Increasing the trehalose content of organisms by transforming them with combinations of the structural genes for trehalose synthase

ABSTRACT

Two nucleotide sequences encoding two different polypeptides found in yeast trehalose synthase have been isolated and cloned. A third polypeptide has been isolated from the enzyme and characterized, and a method is provided to isolate and clone the nucleotide sequence encoding this polypeptide. The coding sequences can be inserted into suitable vectors and used to transform host cells. The transformed cells will produce increased amounts of trehalose compared to the untransformed wild types and have increased tolerance to a variety of stresses, in particular to decreased availability of water. The invention may be used to improve the stress tolerance of organisms, to increase the storage life of foodstuffs and to produce trehalose economically on an industrial scale in an organism (e.g, baker&#39;s yeast) that is a traditional and safe foodstuff.

This application is a continuation-in-part of International Application No. PCT/FI93/00049 filed Feb. 15th, 1993, and which designates the United States, and of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/841,997, filed Feb. 28th, 1992 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,422,254, and which, in turn, is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/836,021, filed Feb. 14th, 1992, and now abandoned.

FIELD OF INVENTION

This invention relates to the genetic engineering of the trehalose synthetic pathway of yeasts, especially baker's and distiller's yeasts, and to the transfer of this pathway by genetic engineering to other organisms. It relates to the production of trehalose and ethanol and to the improvement of the stress resistance of organisms, especially yeasts and crop plants.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that sugars and other polyhydric compounds stabilize isolated proteins and phospholipid membranes during dehydration, probably by replacing the water molecules that are hydrogen-bonded to these macromolecules reviewed by Crowe, J. H. et al. (1987) Biochemical Journal 242, 1-10!. Trehalose (α-glucopyranosyl-α-D-glucopyranose) is a dimer of two glucose molecules linked through their reducing groups. Because it has no reducing groups, it does not take part in the Maillard reactions that cause many sugars to damage proteins, and it is one of the most effective known protectants of proteins and biological membranes in vitro.

In nature, trehalose is found at high concentrations in yeasts and other fungi, some bacteria, insects, and some litoral animals, such as the brine shrimp. It is notable that all these organisms are frequently exposed to osmotic and dehydration stress. Accumulation of trehalose in higher plants is rare, but high levels occur in the so-called resurrection plants, such as the pteridophyte, Selaginella lepidophylla, which can survive extended drought Quillet, M. and Soulet, M. (1964) Comptes Rendus de l'Academie des Sciences, Paris 259, pp. 635-637; reviewed by Avigad, G. (1982) in Encyclopedia of Plant Research (New Series) 13A, pp. 217-347!.

A decreased availability of intracellular water to proteins and membranes is a common feature not only of dehydration and osmotic stress, but also of freezing, in which ice formation withdraws water from inside the cells, and heat stress, which weakens the hydrogen bonds between water and biological macromolecules. In recent years several publications have shown a close connection between the trehalose content of yeast cells, especially of the species Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and their resistance to dehydration and osmotic, freezing and heat stresses. This work has lead to the concept summarized by Wiemkem, A. (1990) Antonie van Leeuwenhoek 58, 209-217! that, whereas the main storage or reserve carbohydrate in yeast is glycogen, the prime physiological function of trehalose is as a protectant against these and other stresses, including starvation and even poisoning by copper, ethanol and hydrogen peroxide, which all stimulate trehalose accumulation Attfield, P. V. (1987) Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 225, 259-263!.

Thus, during growth of Saccharomyces cerevisiae on glucose, glycogen begins to accumulate about one generation before the glucose is exhausted, and begins to be steadily consumed as soon as all external carbon supplies are exhausted. In contrast, accumulation of trehalose (partly at the expense of glycogen) only begins after all the glucose has been consumed, and the trehalose level is then maintained until nearly all the glycogen has been consumed Lillie, S. A. & Pringle, J. R. (1980) Journal of Bacteriology 143, 1384-1394!. The eventual consumption of trehalose is accompanied by a rapid decrease in the number of viable cells.

When trehalose levels in S. cerevisiae have been manipulated by varying the growth conditions or administering heat shocks, high positive correlations have been found between the trehalose content of the cells and their resistance to dehydration Gadd, G. et al. (1987) Federation of European Microbiological Societies Microbiological Letters 48, 249-254!, heat stress Hottiger, T. et al., (1987) Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 220, 113-115! and freezing Gelinas, P. et al. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 55, 2453-2459!. Also, strains of S. cerevisiae and other yeasts selected for resistance to osmotic stress D'Amore, T. et al. (1991) Journal of Industrial Microbiology 7, 191-196! or high performance in frozen dough fermentation Oda, Y. (1986) Applied and Environmental Microbiology 52, 941-943! were found to have unusually high trehalose contents. Furthermore, a mutation in the cyclic AMP signaling system of S. cerevisiae that causes constitutive high trehalose levels also causes constitutive thermotolerance, whereas another mutation in this system that prevents the usual rise in trehalose during heat shock also prevents the acquisition of thermotolerance Hottiger, T. et al., (1989) Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 255, 431-434!. Thus, there is much evidence pointing to a connection between trehalose content and stress resistance in yeasts, especially S. cerevisiae. Similar findings have been made for several other fungi e.g., Neves, M. J., Jorge, J. A., Francois, J. M. & Terenzi, H. F. (1991) Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 283, 19-22!. However, a causative relationship has not yet been demonstrated. Further, nearly all conditions that cause increases in the trehalose content of yeast also cause increases in the levels of the so-called heat shock proteins. The 1989 publication of Hottiger and colleagues, cited above, claims that canavanine does not cause an increase in either trehalose levels or thermotolerance, whereas this compound is reported to induce heat shock proteins.

Whether or not there is a causal relation between trehalose content and stress resistance, it has become general practice in the manufacture of baker's yeast to maximise the trehalose content of the yeast. Various maturation processes have been developed to achieve this aim, and they are of crucial importance in the manufacture of active dried yeast. The details of these processes are often secret, but they are generally empirical regimes in which carbon and nitrogen feeds, aeration and temperature are carefully controlled and selected strains of yeast are used. They demand time and energy inputs during which little increase in cell number occurs. A more rational and controlled process would be of economic benefit.

According to Cabib, E. & Leloir, L. F. (1957) Journal of Biological Chemistry 231, 259-275!, trehalose is synthesized in yeast from uridine diphosphoglucose (UDPG) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) by the sequential action of two enzyme activities, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tre6P synthase) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (Tre6Pase). Londesborough, J. & Vuorio, O. (1991) Journal of Microbiology 137, 323-330, expressly incorporated herein by reference! have purified from baker's yeast a proteolytically modified protein complex that exhibited both these activities and appeared to contain a short polypeptide chain (57 kDa) and two truncated versions (86 kDa and 93 kDa) of a long polypeptide chain. The intact long chain was estimated to have a mass of at least 115 kDa. It was not disclosed which enzyme activity or activities was associated with which polypeptide, nor indeed whether both polypeptides were essential for either or both enzymatic activities. Anti-sera against both polypeptides were reported, but no amino acid sequences were disclosed.

An earlier patent application EP 451 896; see claim 1! has claimed for a transformed yeast "comprising . . . one gene encoding . . . trehalose-6-phosphate synthase". However, no information about either the gene or the protein it encodes was provided.

Several authors have reported increases in Tre6P synthase activity in conditions that lead to accumulation of trehalose by S. cerevisiae, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe both during the approach to stationary phase Winkler, K., et al. (1991) Federation of European Biochemical Societies Letters 291, 269-272; Francois, J., et al. (1991) Yeast 7, 575-587! and after temperature shift-ups to about 40° C. De Virgilio, C., et al. (1990) Federation of European Biochemical, Societies Letters 273, 107-110!. Panek and her colleagues Panek, A. C., et al. (1987) Current Genetics 11, 459-465! have claimed that Tre6P synthase activity is increased by dephosphorylation of pre-existing enzyme molecules, i.e., that it is the result of post-translational regulation. This claim has been challenged Vandercammen, A., et al., (1989) European Journal of Biochemistry 182, 613-620! but continues to be made Panek, A. D. & Panek, A. C. (1990) Journal of Biotechnology 14, 229-238!. Evidence for or against an increase in the amount of enzyme during trehalose accumulation is conflicting. Inhibitors of mRNA synthesis inhibited trehalose accumulation by S. cerevisiae shifted from 30° to 45° C. Attfield (1987) loc.cit.!, whereas under very similar conditions Winkler et al 1991) loc.cit.! found that cycloheximide (an inhibitor of protein synthesis) did not prevent the accumulation of trehalose, which, however, occurred without an observable increase in Tre6P synthase activity. In a lower temperature range (a shift from 23° to 36° C.), trehalose accumulation was accompanied by a three-fold increase in Tre6P synthase activity, and cycloheximide prevented the increase in Tre6P synthase Panek, A. C., et al. (1990) Biochemie 72, 77-79!. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, De Virgilio, C., et al. (1991) loc. cit.! temperature shiftup caused a large accumulation of trehalose and increase of Tre6P synthase which were not prevented by cycloheximide, leading the authors to suggest that in this yeast a post-translational activation occurs. We now disclose that in S. cerevisiae the co-ordinate increases in Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities during exhaustion of glucose are accompanied by an increase in antigenic material recognized by anti-sera to the short and long chains of a purified trehalose synthase. Hence, a method to increase the trehalose content of cells, and so, their stress tolerance, would be to isolate, clone, and modify the structural genes (hereinafter referred to as TPS1, TSL1, and TSL2) of these polypeptides and cause their expression in yeast or other host cells under the control of suitable promoters. If the expression of these genes could be controlled, then so could the trehalose content of the host cells.

The well known metabolic theory of Kacser & Burns (1973) Symposium of the Society of Experimental Biology 27, 65-107! teaches that in principle the concentration of any intermediate, such as trehalose, can be increased by increasing the amount of any enzyme synthesizing it or decreasing the amount of any enzyme degrading it, but that the size of the increase may not be significant. The novelty of the present invention lies in the identification and characterization of the particular yeast genes that must be modified to increase the amounts of trehalose synthase and the recognition of the advantages of modifying the synthetic pathway rather than the degradative pathway. These advantages include (i) leaving the highly regulated see, e.g., Thevelein, J. M. (1988) Experimental Mycology 12, 1-12! degradative pathway intact to avoid the physiological problems likely in yeast that cannot activate this pathway, (ii) the possibility of causing yeast to synthesize trehalose under physiological conditions where wild type yeasts do not (so that blocking the degradative pathway cannot increase the amount of trehalose) and (iii) the important possibility of introducing by these genes a trehalose-synthetic capacity to organisms, such as most higher plants, that naturally lack this capacity.

Expression of the genes for trehalose synthesis in yeast under conditions where trehalase is active will increase the operation of a so-called "futile" cycle, in which glucose is continuously phosphorylated, converted to trehalose and regenerated by hydrolysis of the trehalose, resulting in increased consumption of ATP. This ATP must be regenerated, and under fermentative conditions this will occur by conversion of sugars into ethanol. Therefore, introduction of TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 into yeast under the control of promoters active under fermentative conditions is expected to decrease the yield of cell mass on carbon source and increase that of ethanol. The many attempts e.g., Schaaf et al. (1989) Yeast 5, 285-290! to increase fermentation rates in yeast by increasing the levels of glycolytic enzymes have been unsuccessful. The probable reason is that availability of ADP limits the rate of glycolysis in yeast. Introduction of a futile cycle-ATPase is thus expected to increase this rate. The feasibility of this invention is demonstrated by the finding Gancedo, J.- M. & Navas, M. A. (1992) Yeast 8, S574! that expression of the gluconeogenic enzymes, fructose bisphosphatase and phosphoenol-pyruvate carboxykinase under fermentative conditions (so causing two futile cycles) caused a 50% increase in the fermentation rate of resting yeast. Use of the trehalose futile cycle has the added advantage that the cells must then contain a steady state level of trehalose, which increases their tolerance to osmotic and temperature stress.

The present invention includes transformed strains of distiller's yeast, in which the presence of modified forms of any or all of TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 results in an increased yield of ethanol from carbohydrate sources.

As well as being used to improve the properties of yeast, especially active dried yeast and yeast for frozen doughs, this invention has other obvious applications. First, by increasing the proportion of trehalose in yeast, the industrial scale production of trehalose from yeast is made more economic. It is particularly advantageous to obtain trehalose from yeast because, since yeast is a traditional and safe food stuff, a minimal purification of the trehalose will often be adequate: preparations of trehalose containing yeast residues could be safely added to food stuffs for human or animal consumption. Trehalose also has medical applications, both as a stabilizer of diagnostic kits, viruses and other protein material WO 87/00196! and, potentially, as a source of anti-tumour agents Ohtsuro et al. (1991) Immunology 74, 497-503!. Trehalose for internal applications in humans would be much more safely obtained from yeast than from a genetically engineered bacterium.

Second, by transferring these genes to higher plants after making suitable modifications obvious to anyone skilled in the art (in general, replacements of adenine/thymine base pairs by guanine/cytosine base pairs as suggested by Perlak et al. (1991) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the U.S.A. 88, 3324-3328! and the introduction of suitable promoters, some of which may be tissue-specific, to direct the synthesis of trehalose to frost and drought-sensitive tissues), the resistance of the plants to various stresses, especially frost and dehydration, should be improved. Other microbial trehalose synthases could also be used, including those of Candida utilis (Soler et al 1989! FEMS Microbiol Letters 61, 273-278), E. coli (Glaever et al 1988! J. Bacteriol. 170, 2841-2849), Dictyostelium discoideum (Killick 1979! Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 196, 121-133) and Mycobacterium smegmatis (Lapp et al 1971! J. Biol. Chem. 246, 4567-4579), the latter two systems being able to use ADPG as an alternative to UDPG. The economic importance of such improvements is potentially enormous, because even small increases in cold-tolerance will lead to large increases in growing season, whereas dehydration resistance can save entire crops in time of drought. Frost and drought resistance in higher plants is usually accompanied by increases in compounds such as proline rather than trehalose reviewed by Stewart (1989) in "Plants under Stress", pp 115-130!, but, as mentioned above, resurrection plants accumulate large amounts of trehalose and there seems, a priori, to be no reason why this strategy should not be successful. Therefore, the present invention includes a process to transform crop plants by introducing recombinant forms of the structural genes for microbial trehalose synthases (such as the TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 genes for the yeast enzyme) so as to increase the trehalose content of some of their tissues compared to those of the untransformed plant. Such transformed plants can also be economic and safe sources of trehalose. Third, the shelf-life of food products can be increased by adding trehalose to them WO 89/00012!. A further aspect of the present invention is a novel process for producing trehalose-enriched food products from plants by causing them to express the structural genes for a microbial trehalose synthase in their edible tissues.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention provides two isolated genes encoding, respectively a short and a long chain of yeast trehalose synthase and a third gene encoding a 99 kDa polypeptide that occurs in some trehalose synthase preparations and has trehalose-6-phosphatase activity. These genes can be used to transform an organism (such as a yeast, other fungus or higher eukaryote), whereby the transformed organism produces more trehalose synthase resulting in a trehalose content higher than that of the parent organism. The higher trehalose content confers improved stress resistance and storage properties on the transformed organism as compared to the parent organism, and the transformed organism can be used to provide large quantities of trehalose. The invention also teaches the use of trehalose synthase genes controlled by non-constitutive promoters so that the trehalose content of the transformed organism increases in a desired growth phase or under particular environmental conditions when such an increase is advantageous.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

FIG. 1. SDS-PAGE of intact trehalose synthase

A 6-13 %T gradient gel was used. Lane 1 contains 8.3 μg of intact trehalose synthase eluted from the UDPG-Glucuronate-Agarose column with 0.2M NaCl (#11 of Table 1). Lanes 2, 3 and 4 contain, respectively, 7.7, 12 and 1.0 μg of enzyme eluted from the column with 0.4M NaCl containing 10 mM UDPG (#13, #14 and #15 from Table 1). Lane 5 contains about 1 μg each of molecular mass markers (myosin, β-galactosidase, α-phosphorylase, BSA, ovalbumin, lactate dehydrogenase, triosephosphate-isomerase, myoglobin and cytochrome c). The major polypeptides of intact trehalose synthase are named on the left and the molecular mass calibration, in kDa, is shown on the right.

FIG. 2. SDS-PAGE of immunoprecipitates of wild-type yeast grown on YP/2% glucose

A 9 %T gel was used. Lane 1 contains about 1 μg each of the molecular mass markers used in FIG. 1. Lanes 2, 3 and 4 contain immunoprecipitates from 3.8 mg fresh yeast harvested after 16.1 h (1.2% residual glucose), 18.1 h (no residual glucose) and 39 h. The molecular mass calibration is shown on the left and the major polypeptides of trehalose synthase and the heavy chain of γ-globulin are shown on the right.

FIG. 3. The promoter and terminator of TPS1 and the amino acid sequence deduced from its ORF.

(a) In the promoter and terminator regions, the start ATG and tandem TGA stop codons are bold and underlined and a TATA box and putative catabolite repression element are underlined. (b) In the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:2), the sequences found in peptides isolated from the short chain of trehalose synthase are underlined.

FIG. 4. The promoter and terminator regions of TSL1 and the amino acid sequence deduced from its ORF.

(a) In the promoter region, the start ATG codon is bold and underlined and two TATA boxes and six putative heat shock elements are underlined. A putative MIG1 binding site is overlined. In the terminator region, the TAA stop codon is bold and underlined and a putative transcription termination element is underlined. Lower case letters show the end of the terminator region of the ARGRII gene, which has opposite polarity. (b) In the amino acid sequence (SEQ ID NO:82), sequences found in peptides isolated from (fragments of) the 123 kDa long chain are underlined, and those from peptides liberated from intact trehalose synthase by limited digestion with trypsin are underlined and bold.

FIG. 5. Alignment of the amino acid sequences of the short and long chains of trehalose synthase

The complete short chain sequence (SEQ ID NO:2; the upper sequence) is aligned against residues 320 to 814 of the 123 kDa long chain (SEQ ID NO:4; the lower sequence). 32 gaps are introduced to optimize the alignment. Vertical dashes indicate identical residues. Colons indicate conservative substitutions.

FIG. 6. Important restriction sites in TPS1 and TSL1

The heavy lines indicate open reading frames. The scale bar shows one kb.

FIG. 7. Synthesis of ¹⁴ C!-trehalose from U-¹⁴ C!-glucose 6-phosphate by an extract of wild-type yeast

Reaction mixtures (100 μl) contained 40 mM HEPES/KOH pH 6.8, 1 mg BSA/ml, 10 mM MgCl₂ 10 mM U-¹⁴ C!-G6P (736 c.p.m./nmol) and (a) no phosphate or (b) 5 mM K phosphate pH 6,8 and (0) 5 mM UDPG, () 2.5 mM ADPG or (□) neither UDPG nor ADPG. Reactions were started by adding 10 μl (equivalent to 94 μg fresh yeast) of a 28,000 g supernatant of stationary phase X2180. Reactions were stopped by transfer to boiling water for 2 min and addition of 1.0 ml of a slurry of AGl-X8 (formate) anion exchange resin Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. The radioactivity in the resin supernatant was measured.

FIG. 8. Western analysis of Klg 102 and X2180 yeasts

Growth of the yeasts is described in Example 7. The loads of fresh yeast per lane were: lane 1, 200 μg X2180/2; lanes 2 and 5, 330 μg 2669/1: lanes 3 and 6, 610 μg 2669/2; lanes 4 and 7, 810 μg 2670/1+2; lane 8, 560 μg X2180/1 and lane 9, 280 μg X2180/1. The blot was probed with anti-TPS/P serum at a dilution of 1/30,000. Major bands of trehalose synthase are identified on the right.

FIG. 9. Treatment of truncated trehalose synthase with 1.9 mM NEM

Truncated enzyme (0.13 Tre6P synthase units/ml≈43 μg/ml) in 2 mg BSA/ml 50 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 67 mM NaCl, 0.2 mM EDTA, 0.17 mM dithiothreitol, 0.17 mM benzamidine and 1.7 mM UDPG was incubated at 24° C. with (closed symbols) or without (open symbols) 1.9 mM NEM. Tre6P synthase (∘! and Tre6Pase (▪,□) activities were measured.

FIG. 10. Autoradiogram of truncated trehalose synthase labelled with ¹⁴ C!-NEM and separated by SDS-PAGE

Labelling was performed as described in Example 8 for 1.5, 10.5, 63 and 190 min in lanes 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The positions of the (57 kDa) short chain, 93 and 86 kDa long chain fragments and the carrier BSA are indicated.

FIG. 11. Treatment of truncated trehalose synthase with ethyl-labelled NEM.

Truncated enzyme (7.2 Tre6P synthase units/ml≈0.24 mg/ml) in 1 mg BSA/ml 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 2 mM MgC12, 1 mM EDTA and 0.2M NaCl was incubated at 23° C. with (solid symbols) or without (open symbols) 32 μM ethyl-labelled NEM. Tre6P synthase (,∘! and Tre6Pase (▪,□) activities and the amounts of ¹⁴ C!-NEM incorporated into the 93 (▴), 86 (+) and 57 (X) kDa polypeptides were measured. 0.1 mol NEM incorporated per mol (150 Kg) of enzyme corresponds to an excess radioactivity of 75 c.p.m. in bands cut from the gel.

FIG. 12. Stoichiometry of NEM labelling

Residual Tre6Pase activity is plotted against the amount of NEM incorporated to the 93 and 86 kDa fragments of the long chain. Ring-labelled () and ethyl-labelled (∘) NEM were used.

FIG. 13. SDS-PAGE analysis of fractions eluted from the cellulose-phosphate with buffer containing 0.3% Triton

Lane L contains 47 μl of the intact trehalose synthase applied to the column. Lane M contains about 1 μg each of the molecular mass markers used in FIG. 1. The numbered lanes contain 33 μl of selected 1.5 ml fractions eluted from the column. The NaCl gradient began to appear in fraction 6 and reached 300 mM at fraction 27. A step to 600 mM NaCl emerged between fractions 36 and 37. Fractions 40 to 42 were eluted with 200 mM K phosphate. The major bands in the trehalose synthase preparation are identified on the left. Details are given in Example 9.

FIG. 14. In vitro activation of trehalose synthase by limited tryptic digestion

Intact trehalose synthase was incubated with (solid symbols) and without (open symbols) trypsin and its Tre6P synthase activity measured in the presence of 5 mM F6P in reaction mixtures containing (∘,) no phosphate or (▪) 5 mM K phosphate pH 6,8. Details are given in Example 10.

FIG. 15. Limited try-tic digestion of intact trehalose synthase

Lane 1 contains the untreated trehalose synthase used in FIG. 15 and lane 2 the same amount of enzyme after 48 min treatment with trypsin. Lane 3 contains molecular mass standards. The major polypeptides of trehalose synthase are identified on the left.

FIG. 16. The effect of fructose 6-phosphate on the Tre6P synthase activity of intact trehalose synthase at different phosphate concentrations

The Tre6P synthase activity of native trehalose synthase was measured between zero and 10 mM F6P. Other conditions were as in the standard Tre6P synthase assay with () no changes, (∘) 1.3 mM K phosphate pH 6.8 added or (▪) 4 mM K phosphate pH 6.8 and 0.1M KCl added and the MgCl₂ concentration decreased to 2.5 mM. Activities are shown as percentages of that in the standard assay (i.e., at 5 mM F6P and no phosphate).

FIG. 17. Activation of the Tre6Pase activities of intact and truncated trehalose synthase by phosphate

Tre6Pase activities were measured at 0.5 mM ¹⁴ C!-trehalose-6-phosphate in assay mixtures containing 50 mM Hepes pH 6.8, 1 mg bovine albumin/ml and the indicated concentrations of K phosphate pH 6.8 and are shown as percentages of the standard Tre6P synthase activity. Initial rates are shown for the (▪) intact and () truncated enzyme. Rates during the second five minutes of the accelerating reaction obtained with truncated enzyme are also shown (∘).

FIG. 18. Phosphate-dependence of the Tre6Pase activity of intact trehalose synthase

The reciprocal of the increase in rate (V.sub.Δ) caused by the phosphate is plotted against (∘) phosphate!⁻² or () phosphate!⁻¹. V.sub.Δ is shown as a percentage of the standard Tre6P synthase activity.

FIG. 19. Western analyses of E. coli transformed with TPS1 and TSL1

The gels were loaded with samples of whole homogenates (HOM) equivalent to 300±12 μg fresh cells or 28 000 g supernatants (SUP) equivalent to 340±25 μg fresh cells. The letters above the lanes indicate the cell types: K, control (HB101) cells; L, ALKO3568 (HB101 transformed with TSL1); S, ALK03566 (HB101 transformed with TPS1). Gel 1 was probed with anti-57K serum (1/20 000) and gel 2 with anti-93K serum (1/20 000). The positions of the 57 kDa short chain and about 60, 36 and 35 kDa fragments of the 123 kDa long chain are shown. Molecular mass standards are labelled in kDas.

FIG. 20. Some plasmids containing TPS1 and TSL1

pBluescript containing (a) TPS1 with its own promoter, (b) TPS1 without its promoter and (c) TSL1 with its own promoter are shown.

FIG. 21. Southern analysis of two tps1 disruptants of S.cerevisiae.

ClaI digests of DNA from control yeast (S150-2B; lanes 2,5 and 9), and two tps1 disruptants, ALKO 3569 (lanes 3, 6 and 10) and ALKO 3570 (lanes 4,7 and 11) were probed with TPS1 (lanes 2 to 4), LEU2 (lanes 5 to 7) and TSL1 (lanes 9 to 11). Lanes 1 and 8 contain DNA standards

FIG. 22. Increased temperature tolerance of a pALK732 transformant

The yeast strain S150 (∘) and its transformant () with pALK732 containing the coding sequences of TPS1 and TSL2 under the control of ADC1 promoters were grown on minimal media with 2% glucose and all essential amino acids (S150) or lacking leucine (the transformant). At an initial A₆₀₀ of 0.27, 5 ml portions were placed in screw-capped tubes in the slots of a temperature gradient block. After 28 h the tubes were vigorously mixed and their A₆₀₀ determined.

FIG. 23. The chimeric pATS1a/TPS1 construct used to transform tobacco.

The figure depicts the schematic structure of the chimeric gene construct containing the A. thaliana Rubisco small subunit promoter (pATS1a) fused to the yeast TPS1 gene encoding the Tre6P synthase subunit and the transcription stop signal from the nopaline synthase gene of Agrobacterium tumefaciens (nos). Only the part of the plasmid pKOH51 with the chimeric gene is shown. Unique restriction enzyme cleavage sites for the chimeric gene construction are shown.

FIG. 24. Western blot analysis of transgenic tobacco plants.

The 56 kDa TPS1 product is indicated by an arrow. Proteins were extracted from the transformed tobacco plants containing (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16 and 19) the construct described in FIG. 23, or (GUS) another chimeric gene with the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter fused to the β-glucuronidase gene (UIDA) in the same vector or (SR1) from untransformed tobacco plants. Equal amounts of protein were loaded in each lane. The antiserum used (anti-57K) was raised against the 56 kDa Tre6P synthase subunit from yeast.

FIG. 25. Chromatographic identification of trehalose.

Samples (20 μl) of water extracts of tobacco leaves were analyzed by HPLC as described in General Materials and Methods. Extracts A and B contained 192 mg of greenhouse-grown Transformant 19 ml⁻¹ (A) before and (B) after treatment with trehalase. Extracts C and D contained 149 mg leaf ml⁻¹ from (C) Transformant 4 or (D) a control plant transformed with plasmid pDE1001 lacking the TPS1 gene, both grown under sterile conditions. Trehalose peaks are indicated with T. The two large peaks at about 25 min (peaks 7 and 8 in A) are glucose and sucrose.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following description, trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (Tre6P synthase) and trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase (Tre6Pase) refer to catalytic activities, not to proteins, unless specifically stated otherwise, whereas trehalose synthase refers to a protein that can convert uridine diphosphoglucose (UDPG) and glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) into trehalose, and also exhibits as partial reactions Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities. TPS1 (earlier called TSS1; the name has been changed in accordance with a 1993 initiative by Dr. Gancedo to standardize the names of this gene), TSL1, and TSL2 are structural genes that encode, respectively, the short (57 kDa) and the about 130 and 99 kDa long chains of trehalose synthase. It is well known that mutations occur in genes and can cause changes in the amino acid sequence of the encoded polypeptide. Changes can also be introduced by genetic engineering techniques. As used herein, the term TPS1 (or TSL1 or TSL2) gene includes all DNA sequences homologous with the sequences herein disclosed for TPS1 (or TSL1 or TSL2) and encoding polypeptides with the functional or structural properties of the 57 kDa (or about 130 kDa or 99 kDa, respectively) polypeptide. Sequences articially derived from these genes but still encoding polypeptides with the desired functional or structural properties are also included.

The present inventors previously reported the isolation of a partially degraded protein preparation that contained a short (57 kDa) polypeptide chain and two fragments (86 and 93 kDa) of a long polypeptide chain and possessed both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase catalytic activities Londesborough, J & Vuorio, O. (1991) Journal of General Microbiology 137, 323-330!. The size of the full-length intact long chain, from which both the 86 and 93 kDa fragments were then believed to be derived, and whether one or other polypeptide possessed one or other of the catalytic activities were not known at that time.

The inventors have now isolated an undegraded trehalose synthase that contains the 57 kDa short chain, and two long chains of about 130 kDa and 99 kDa as its major polypeptides. Traces of other polypeptides are also present that appear to be degradation products of the about 130 and 99 kDa chains. Two genes, TPS1 and TSL1, that encode, respectively, the short and about 130 kDa long chains have been cloned and sequenced. Because the size of this long chain is now known from its gene to be 123 kDa, it is hereafter called the 123 kDa long chain. TPS1 encodes a polypeptide with a theoretical molecular weight of 56.2 kDa; however, this short chain and the 99 kDa long chain are still called after their apparent molecular weights by SDS-PAGE analysis, the error in such analyses being at least ±10 kDa at 130 kDa.

The sequences of TPS1 and the polypeptide it encodes are disclosed as SEQ ID NOS:1 and 2, respectively. The sequences of TSL1 and the polypeptide it encodes are disclosed as SEQ ID NOS:83 and 82, respectively (earlier versions of these sequences, lacking the 5'- and N-terminal regions, are listed as SEQ ID NOS:3 and 4). Genetic evidence is disclosed that shows that a functional TPS1 gene is involved in the expression of both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase catalytic activities in S. cerevisiae: (1) both activities are absent from a mutant strain (Klg 102) that lacks a properly functional TPS1 gene and does not express the short chain in a form recognizable in Western blots although it does express immunologically recognisable long chain; (2) disruption of TPS1 eliminates Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities, abolishes the short chain signal from Western blots and prevents the accumulation of trehalose, and these defects are simultaneously reversed by transformation with TPS1, which also increased the resistance of the cells to freezing stress; and (3) transformation of Escherichia coli with TPS1 causes a large increase in the Tre6P synthase activity of the transformants (but no detected increase in their Tre6Pase activity).

We disclose biochemical evidence that the Tre6Pase catalytic activity of a truncated trehalose synthase requires a functional long chain: incorporation of about 1 mole of ¹⁴ C-N-ethylmaleimide into the 93 kDa long chain fragment per mole of truncated trehalose synthase results in complete loss of Tre6Pase activity but only a slight loss of Tre6P synthase activity. Furthermore, we have been able to isolate the 99 kDa polypeptide and show that it possesses residual Tre6Pase activity but no Tre6P synthase activity. Also, intact trehalose synthase is partially resolved into a 99 kDa-enriched form with a relatively high Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio and a 123 kDa-enriched form with a lower Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio. However, truncation of the 123 kDa long chain has dramatic and important effects on the Tre6P synthase activity of trehalose synthase: removal of the N-terminal 330 or so amino acids decreases the sensitivity of the Tre6P synthase catalytic activity to inhibition by phosphate and almost eliminates its activation by fructose-6-phosphate. Further, transformation of E. coli with TSL1 causes an increase in the Tre6P synthase activity of the transformants (but no detected increase in their Tre6Pase activity).

Thus, both the short and the long chains make essential contributions to both the Tre6P synthase and the Tre6Pase catalytic activities of trehalose synthase. The situation is therefore that there are at least two different structural genes for a trehalose synthase, neither of which can be completely described as the structural gene of either a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase protein or a trehalose-6-phosphate phosphatase protein.

We disclose that the amino acid sequences of peptides isolated from both the 86 and 93 kDa long chain fragments found in the truncated enzyme described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit! are encoded by TSL1. Surprisingly, however, none of the peptides isolated from the 99 kDa polypeptide in the intact enzyme is encoded by TSL1. Therefore, the structural genes encoding polypeptides of yeast trehalose synthase include a third member, TSL2. The 99 kDa polypeptide encoded by TSL2 was not visible in SDS-PAGE analyses of truncated enzyme. However, one of the 6 peptides isolated from the 93 kDa fragment was not encoded by TSL1 and had an amino acid sequence also found in a peptide isolated from the 99 kDa polypeptide. Thus, traces of a degradation product of the 99 kDa polypeptide are present in truncated enzyme, and migrate with the 93 kDa fragment during SDS-PAGE.

The inventors have not yet sequenced this third structural gene, TSL2, but disclose information that provides obvious methods for its isolation and cloning by a person ordinarily skilled in the art. Also a clone (pALK756) comprising at least part of this gene has been deposited (Accession number, DSM 7425; Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen, Mascheroder Weg 1 B, D-3300 Brauschweig)

We disclose that the genes TPS1 and TSL1 contain extensive similarities such that the amino acid sequence of the entire short chain is 37% identical to residues 495 to 814 of the long chain.

A novel feature of the present invention, therefore, is that in order to increase the capacity of a yeast or some other host organism for trehalose synthesis it can be necessary to increase the expression of the TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 genes or modify these genes in some other way, not because either Tre6P synthase or Tre6Pase activity is "rate-limiting", but because more than one gene affects each activity. Thus, the results summarised above disclose that both TPS1 and TSL1 affect Tre6P synthase activity and both TPS1 and TSL2 affect Tre6Pase activity. However, these results also disclose that the TSL2 gene product (the 99 kDa polypeptide) isolated by chromatography is itself a trehalose-6-phosphatase whereas the TPS1 gene product expressed in E. coli or Nicotiana tabacum is a trehalose-6-phosphate synthase, although the catalytic efficiency of these separate polypeptides can be less than when they are correctly assembled in a trehalose synthase complex.

A surprising finding was that the TPS1 gene is identical with a gene variously called FDP1 or CIF1. This gene has pleiotropic effects on the utilization of sugars by S. cerevisiae. In particular, haploid yeast bearing certain alleles of this gene (the so-called fdp1 and cif1 mutants) are unable to grow on mannose, or on mannose or sucrose, or on mannose, sucrose or fructose, or on mannose, sucrose, fructose or glucose, depending upon the severity of the defect Van de Poll & Schamhart, (1977) Molecular and general Genetics 154, 61-66; Banuelos, M. & Fraenkel, D. G. (1982) Molecular and Cellular Biology 2, 921-929!. Such mutants grow normally on galactose. Therefore, during the selection of strains in which the TPS1 gene has been deleted or modified it is sometimes essential and always advisable to grow the transformants on galactose, because in many cases the desired transformant will be unable to grow on any other common sugar, including the routinely used glucose. This is an unexpected methodological consideration that would not be obvious even to a person skilled in the art: special knowledge about the sequence and chromosomal location of the TPS1 gene is required, which we now disclose.

Since our disclosure of the identity of TPS1 with FDP1 and CIF1 in U.S. Pat. No. 841,997, a confirmation has been published by Bell, W., et al. (1992) European Journal of Biochemistry 209, 951-959)! The inventors' previous work Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! showed that the Tre6P synthase catalytic activity of what is now known to be trehalose synthase requires a so-called TPS-Activator protein, which is a dimer of 58 kDa subunits. We have identified this protein by the amino acid sequences of peptides it contains and by its catalytic activity and disclose that it is yeast phosphoglucoisomerase. We disclose that fructose-6-phosphate (F6P), which could be made by phosphoglucoisomerase from the glucose-6-phosphate (G6P) in the assay mixtures used to measure Tre6P synthase activity, is a powerful activator of the Tre6P synthase activity of intact trehalose synthase. Also, when the assay mixture contains an equilibrium mixture of G6P and F6P the TPS-Activator has no further effect, so that its phosphoglucoisomerase activity is a complete explanation of the activation it causes. Furthermore, the Tre6P synthase activity of truncated trehalose synthase does not require F6P, and is not so strongly inhibited by phosphate as is that of the native enzyme. Thus, a trehalose synthetic pathway can in principle be transferred to any organism by transforming the organism with the structural genes for yeast trehalose synthase: it is not necessary to simultaneously introduce the TPS-activator, because F6P is a ubiquitous component of cells. Furthermore, if the amounts of F6P in an organism are inadequate, or phosphate concentrations are too high, the organism can be transformed with a truncated version of TSL1 encoding the truncated long chain that confers insensitivity to phosphate and F6P. This aspect of the present invention is particularly significant, because it both allows the introduction of a trehalose synthetic pathway to organisms in which the cytosolic phosphate and F6P concentrations would prevent the efficient function of yeast trehalose synthase, and also may permit trehalose synthase to function efficiently at stages of yeast growth when native trehalose synthase would be inhibited by cytosolic phosphate. We disclose that intact trehalose synthase can be liberated from phosphate inhibition by treatment with trypsin in vitro.

From the knowledge gained from the present invention, it is possible to produce trehalose recombinantly by transforming a host cell with the appropriately modified TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 genes. Methods of transformation and appropriate expression vectors are well-known in the art. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the host is co-transformed with TPS1 and one or both of the other genes. However, examples are disclosed in which transformation with TPS1 alone caused the appearance of Tre6P synthase activity in E. coli and both Tre6P synthase activity and trehalose in Nicotiana tabacum.

Expression vectors are known in the art for both eukaryotic and prokaryotic systems, and the present invention contemplates use of both systems. For transformation of yeast at least two classes of promoters are contemplated. Yeast that accumulates more trehalose but at the usual time (i.e., after consumption of fermentable carbon sources) can be made by inserting extra copies of the genes under their own promoters, or stronger promoters with similar control. Such yeast can have improved storage properties and stress resistance and be more economic sources of trehalose. Yeast that synthesizes trehalose during fermentation can be made by replacing the genes' own promoters with promoters (such as ADC1) that are active during fermentation. As explained above, such yeast can have increased fermentation rates, ethanol yields and resistance to osmotic and temperature stress during fermentation.

Also contemplated are modifications of the DNA sequence which would provide "preferred" codons for particular expression systems (e.g., bacteria and higher plants). In addition, the TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 DNA sequences may be modified by certain deletions or insertions, provided the translated polypeptides are enzymatically functional. Expression of functional polypeptides from TPS1, TSL1 and TSL2 may be confirmed by assaying for Tre6P synthase and/or Tre6Pase activity in the expression system by the methods described herein. Deletion of the first 330 amino acids or so from the 123 kDa long chain to give an enzyme active at higher phosphate and lower F6P concentrations has already been mentioned.

It is well known that proteins with the same function in different organisms are often homologous. The gene encoding a particular protein in one organism can often be isolated using probes and PCR primers designed from the sequence of the gene encoding the corresponding protein of another organism. The sequences now disclosed for TPS1 and TSL1 can be used to clone the genes of polypeptides of other microbial synthases.

The genes of the present invention and those encoding components of other microbial trehalose synthase systems may be transferred to and expressed in plants. DNA vectors or ballistic methods can be used to transfer the genes. This may be done preferably by functionally joining the coding sequences of the genes to appropriate plant promoters. Constitutive promoters (such as the Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter), tissue specific promoters (such as the patatin promoter) or non-constitutive promoters could all be used, with particular advantages in particular cases. However, although the accumulation of trehalose at certain times (e.g., during exposure to stress or in a mature plant) and in certain tissues (e.g. storage organs or, at appropriate times, frost-sensitive tissues) is expected to be beneficial, or at least harmless to a plant, there is a distinct possibility that at other times and in other tissues the accumulation of trehalose may be harmful to a plant (Veluthambi et al. 1981! Plant Physiol. 68, 1369-1374). It would therefore be advantageous to use a plant promoter that does not permit full expression of the microbial gene(s) causing trehalose synthesis until the plant is mature or encounters environmental conditions, including drought and low temperature, in which the benefits of trehalose outweigh its possible disadvantages to the plant. Several examples of such non-constitutive plant promoters are known to those familiar with the art, including the small subunit ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (Rubisco) promoter, which drives the light-induced expression of the small subunit of RUBISCO (Krebbers et al. 1988! Plant Mol. Biol. 11, 745-759).

We disclose tobacco plants transformed with the coding sequence (open reading frame, ORF) of the yeast TPS1 gene correctly fused to the ATS1A promoter of a Rubisco small subunit gene. We disclose that the transformed plants are healthy and fertile and contain trehalose in their leaves. Untransformed tobacco or tobacco transformed with a similar vector lacking the TPS1 gene does not contain trehalose.

One of these transformed tobacco plants (Transformant 4) is shown to contain Tre6P synthase activity. The free 56 kDa subunit is known to be unstable when isolated from the intact trehalose synthase complex of yeast (Example 9). Methods are described by which a person skilled in the art can co-transform plants with the TPS1 gene and one or both of the other yeast trehalose synthase genes (TSL2 and TSL1) under the control of appropriate promoters, e.g. the ATS1A promoters. Such co-transformation is expected to increase the trehalose content of the plants compared to that of plants containing only TPS1, because the subunits encoded by TSL2 and TSL1 will stabilise the 56 kDa subunit.

Plants containing trehalose as a result of transformation with one or more of these yeast genes for trehalose synthase can be used in several ways. For example, trehalose can be extracted from the plants on a commercial scale and used to preserve the flavor and structure of food stuffs during drying. For this application the trehalose would preferably be accumulated in a storage organ, such as the tuber of a potato or the fruit of a banana. Plant promoters are known in the art (e.g., the patatin promoter) that cause expression specifically in storage organs. In one aspect of the present invention, the coding sequences of microbial genes for trehalose synthase, such as TPS1, TSL2 and TSL1, are fused to such promoters in the same way as the TPS1 coding sequence was fused to the ATS1A promoter, and suitable plants are transformed with these DNA constructions. The trehalose accumulated in the storage organs may then be extracted. In other cases (e.g., tomatoes), the trehalose accumulated in the edible storage organ of the plant may confer a longer shelf life than exhibited by the corresponding parts of untransformed plants

Transformed plants containing trehalose may also be more resistant to drought, frost and other stresses than the untransformed plants. In this aspect of the invention, the plant promoter used may be one that is induced by stress. Such promoters are known in the art, e.g. LTI78 (Nordin et al. 1993! Plant Mol. Biol. 21, 641-653) and RAB18 (Lång & Palva 1992! Plant Mol. Biol. 20, 951-962). This will prevent the accumulation of trehalose until it is needed. In plants able to grow well whilst containing trehalose, this aspect of the invention can be achieved without resource to a stress-induced promoter, but the use of stress-induced promoters to prevent trehalose production until it is needed has the additional advantage of avoiding the yield penalty that would otherwise result from the diversion of photosynthetic capacity to trehalose synthesis.

In yet another aspect of the invention, microbial genes for trehalose synthase subunits are appropriately fused to a plant promoter (e.g., LTI78 or RAB18) that is activated by a specific event or set of conditions (e.g. cold or drought stress) so that accumulation of trehalose in the plant can be triggered to occur in the mature plant shortly before harvesting, avoiding any deleterious effects of trehalose on the early development of certain plants.

Based on the above disclosure, the transgenic plants according to the invention can be monocotyledonous plants, such as corn, oats, millet, wheat, rice, barley, sorghum, amaranth, onion, asparagus or sugar cane, or dicotyledonous plants such as alfalfa, soybean, petunia, cotton, sugarbeet, sunflower, carrot, celery, cabbage, cucumber, pepper, canola, tomato, potato, lentil, flax, broccoli, tobacco, bean, lettuce, oilseed rape, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprout, artichoke, pea, okra, squash, kale, collard greens, tea or coffee.

We disclose that the yeast gene TPS1 and its product are compatible with the biochemical machinery of tobacco: the gene was highly expressed and the 56 kDa subunit caused the appearance of trehalose. However, it is known in the art that plant genes often have lower A+T ratios than microbial genes, and that the expression level of heterologous genes in plants can be increased by altering the codon usage, particularly near the start of the coding sequence, towards that found in plants and similar modifications of microbial genes may be useful in the present invention.

The following examples are for illustration of the present invention and should not be construed as limiting the present invention in any manner.

EXAMPLES

General Materials and Methods

Materials

Fructose 6-phosphate (F6P) and adenosine 5'-diphosphoglucose (ADPG) were from Sigma Chemicals. Glucose 6-phosphate (G6P), phenylmethylsulphonyl fluoride (PMSF), uridine 5'-diphosphoglucose (UDPG) and other commercial reagents were from the sources stated in Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. Truncated trehalose synthase (proteolytically activated "TPS/P") and TPS activator were prepared as described in Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. The antisera, anti-TPS/P, anti-57K and anti-93K were made in rabbits using as antigen, respectively, truncated trehalose synthase, the short (57 kDa) chain and the 93 kDa fragment of the long chain of trehalose synthase as described in Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. Vacuolar trehalase was partially purified as described by Londesborough & Varimo ( 1984! Biochem. J. 219, 511-518) from a suc⁻ gal⁻ mel⁻ mal⁻ yeast strain (ALK02967) and did not hydrolyze sucrose, maltose or melibiose. A plasmid (YCplac111/TPS2) provided by Drs. Claudio De Virgilio and Andres Wiemken, Botanisches Institut der Universitat Basel, Switzerland contained the gene TPS2 cloned into the SacI site of plasmid YCplac111. This gene is needed for Tre6Pase activity in yeast (De Virgilio et al 1993! Eur. J. Biochem. 212, 315-323) and encodes the amino acid sequences SEQ ID NOs: 29 to 38 and 44 to 49) and so is identical to the TSL2 gene disclosed by the inventors in 1992.

Buffers for enzyme extraction and purification

Two standard cocktails, HBMED (25 mM Hepes/KOH pH 7.0/1 mM benzamidine/1 mM MgCl₂ /0.1 mM EDTA/1 mM dithiothreitol) and HB2M1ED (HBMED but with final concentrations of 2 mM MgCl₂ and 1 mM EDTA) were used as basal buffers during preparation of cell extracts and purification of enzyme. Where indicated, the Hepes and benzamidine concentrations were increased to 50 mM and 5 mM, respectively.

Yeasts

Commercial baker's yeast was from Alko's Rajamaki factory. The standard laboratory strains of S. cerevisiae used were X2180 (ATCC 26109) and S288C (ATCC 26108). Mutant strains are described in the Examples and Table 1 lists important strains of microorganisms and plasmids. Laboratory yeast were routinely grown on 1% yeast extract/2% peptone (YP) containing the indicated carbon source in aerobic shake flasks at 30° C. and 200 r.p.m. Cells were harvested by centrifugation for 5 minutes at 3000 g, resuspended in distilled water and again centrifuged 5 minutes at 3000 g. The pellets were suspended in about 20 volumes of HB2M1ED and centrifuged in tared tubes for 10 minutes at 15,000 g. Tubes and pellets were weighed to give the mass of fresh yeast. For trehalose determinations, portions of the pellets were treated as described by Lillie, S. H. & Pringle, J. R. (1980) Journal of Bacteriology 143, 1384-1394!. The washed cells were broken by suspending them at 0° C. in 1 to 4 volumes of HB2M1ED, adding fresh stock PMSF/pepstatin (1 mg pepstatin A/ml 0.1M PMSF in methanol) to give final concentrations of 10 μg pepstatin/ml and 1 mM PMSF, and shaking with glass beads for three 1 minute periods in a Braun MK II homogenizer or (for amounts less than 0.3 g fresh yeast) by vortexing in an Eppendorf tube. The glass beads were removed and the volume of homogenate was measured. Samples for SDS-PAGE were made at once by dilution with Laemmli sample buffer Laemmli, U. K. (1970) Nature, London 227, 680-685!. The homogenates were then centrifuged as indicated (usually 5 min at 5,000 g or 20 minutes at 28,000 g). Enzyme assays were made on the homogenates and supernatants and protein determined in the supernatants from A280 and A260 measurements.

                  TABLE 1                                                          ______________________________________                                         List of important strains and plasmids                                         Name         Description         Source                                        ______________________________________                                         Saccharomyces                                                                  cerevisiae                                                                     X2180 (ATCC 26109)                                                                          Standard laboratory yeast (diploid)                                                                --                                            S288C (ATCC 26108)                                                                          Standard laboratory yeast (haploid)                                                                --                                            Klg 102      cif1-102, leu1, ura1, trp5, MATα                                                             1                                             MV6807       fdp1, leu2, ura3, his3, lys2, ade8,                                                                2                                                          trp1, MATα                                                  S150-2B      leu2, his3, trp1, ura3, Mata                                                                       --                                            ALK03569     tps1::LEU2 (from S150-2B)                                                                          This                                                                           work                                          ALK03570     tps1::LEU2 (from S150-2B)                                                                          This                                                                           work                                          WDC-3A       cif1::HIS3, his3, ura3, ade2, MATα                                                           3                                             Escherichia coli                                                               DH5α                                                                     MC1061                                                                         HB101 (ALKO 683)                                                               ALK03566     HB101 containing pALK752                                                                           This                                                                           work                                          ALK03568     HB101 containing pALK754                                                                           This                                                                           work                                          Plasmids                                                                       pALK751      pBluescript containing an 8.2 kb                                                                   This                                                       insert comprising TSL1                                                                             work                                          pALK752      pBluescript containing a 2.5 kb                                                                    This                                                       insert comprising TPS1                                                                             work                                          pALK753      pBluescript containing a 3.3 kb                                                                    This                                                       insert comprising the ORF of TPS1                                                                  work                                          pALK754      pBluescript containing a 4.4 kb                                                                    This                                                       insert comprising TSL1                                                                             work                                          pALK756      pBluescript containing a 3.5 kb                                                                    This                                                       insert comprising at least part                                                                    work                                                       of TSL2                                                           pALK757      pBluescript containing an                                                                          This                                                       insert comprising the ORF of TSL1                                                                  work                                          pMB14        YEp352 containing CIF1                                                                             3                                             pGSFR401     Source of ATS1A promoter                                          PDE1001      Plant transformation vector                                       pKOH51       pDE1001 carrying pATS1A-TPS1-                                                                      This                                                       3'G7 chimeric gene  work                                          ______________________________________                                          Sources:                                                                       1. Dr. D. Fraenkel, Harvard Medical School, U.S.A.                             2. Dr. J. Thevelein, Lab voor Plantenbioch., Heverlee, Belgium.                3. Dr. C. Gancedo, CSIC, Madrid, Spain.                                  

Enzyme Assays

With microbial materials, Tre6Pase and Tre6P synthase standard assays and other kinetic measurements were made as described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! except that the standard Tre6P synthase assay mixture contained 5 mM F6P unless stated otherwise. Where appropriate, Tre6P synthase assays were corrected by measuring UDP production from UDPG in the absence of G6P and F6P.

For work with plant material, the Tre6P synthase assay system of Lapp et al ( 1971! J. Biol. Chem. 246, 4567-4579) was modified as follows. About 500 mg of frozen plant material was weighed and then ground to a fine powder with a mortar and pestel on solid CO₂. The powder was transferred to 0.7 ml of HB2M1ED containing 50 mM HEPES, 1 mM PMSF, and 10 μg/ml each of pepstatin A and leupeptin and allowed to melt. The resulting homogenate was centrifuged 10 min at 17 000 g. A 10 μl sample of the supernatant was added to 90 μl of reaction mixture containing 40 mM HEPES/KOH pH 7.0, 10 mM MgCl₂, 10 mM glucose 6-phosphate, 5 mM fructose 6-phosphate, 5 mM uridinediphosphoglucose (UDPG) and 1 mg/ml bovine albumin and incubated at 30° C. for the required time. The reaction was stopped by 2 min at 100° C. Sugar derivatives (including any sucrose formed) except for trehalose and trehalose 6-phosphate were destroyed by adding 50 μl 0.6M HCl and heating for 5 min at 100° C. and then 50 μl of 8% NaOH and heating for 15 min at 100° C. Remaining carbohydrate (i.e., trehalose and trehalose 6-phosphate) were then determined with the anthrone assay (Trevelyan & Harrison 1956! Biochem. J. 63, 23-33).

Trehalose Assays of Plant Materials

About 500 mg of frozen plant material was quickly weighed into a glass tube. Hot, distilled water (1 ml) was added and the mixture was boiled for 20 min, the leaf material being broken up at intervals with a blunt glass rod. The liquid phase was collected with a pasteur pipette and the solid re-extracted with 0.5 ml of water. The combined liquid phases were centrifuged. The supernatant was analyzed (in some cases after treatment with alkaline phosphatase or a specific trehalase) by using a Dionex DX-300 liquid chromatograph equipped with a 42039 electrochemical combination detector with a 42300 PED-2 gold working electrode and Ag/AgCl reference. Samples (25 μl; in triplicate) were injected via a 43096 Carbopac PA-1 (4×50 mm) pre-column onto a 35391 Carbopac PA-1 (4×250 mm) column and eluted with water at 1 ml/min. The eluate was mixed with post-column reagent (0.6 ml/min of 0.3M NaOH). Trehalose emerged at about 3 min, well before the glucose and sucrose peaks, which emerged at ca 20 min.

DNA manipulations

Stratagene's (La Jolla, Calif.) Escherichia coli strain XL-1 Blue {recA1, endA1, gyrA96, thi, hsdR17, supE44, relA1, lac, F' proAB, lacIq ADM15, Tn10 (tetR)!} were used as host bacteria. The E. coli strains DH5α and MC1061 were also used for preparing plasmids for use in plant transformations. When needed, XL-1 Blue cells were made competent by the method of Mandel & Higa (1970) Journal of Molecular Biology 53, 159-162!. The cloning vector was Stratagene's Lambda Zap II, predigested with EcoRI, where the cloning site is near the N-terminus of the gene for β-galactosidase, thus enabling the color selection of recombinant clones. The sequencing vectors M13mp18 and M13mp19 from Pharmacia LKB Biotechnology were also used.

High molecular mass DNA from the haploid S288C strain was prepared as described Johnston, J. R. (1988) in Yeast, A Practical Approach, IRL Press, Oxford! and partially digested with either HaeIII or EcoRI restriction enzyme. For the large scale HaeIII digestion, e.g., a reaction mixture of 330 μl containing 30 μg of DNA and 4.8 U of enzyme was incubated at 37° C. for 60 minutes. The reaction was stopped with 10 μl of 0.5M EDTA and transferred to ice. The methods for such digestions and their agarose gel electrophoretic analysis are well known in the art and are described, e.g., in Sambrook et al., Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, 2nd ed., (1989)!.

Plasmid DNA was isolated using standard methods for small scale purification Sambrook et al. (1989) Molecular Cloning, A Laboratory Manual, 2nd ed., Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, hereby expressly incorporated by reference!. Large scale purifications of plasmid DNA were done with Qiagen tip-100 columns from Diagen following their instructions.

DNA sequences were determined either manually by the dideoxy-chain termination method Sanger et al. (1977) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 74, 5463-5467!, sequencing directly from pBluescript plasmids, or automatically with the Applied Biosystems Model 373A automatic DNA sequencer, sequencing either directly from these plasmids or from M13 subclones.

Southern and Western hybridizations and other standard manipulations were carried out by well known procedures see, e.g., Sambrook et al. (1989) loc. cit.!. For Western analyses of plant materials, proteins were extracted with the following buffer: 50 mM Tris/HCl pH 7.2, 250 mM sucrose, 5 mM EDTA, 10 mM MgCl₂, 1 mM CaCl₂, 10 mM β-mercaptoethanol, 1 mM PMSF, 30 μM pepstatin, 50 μM leupeptin and 15 μM aprotinin. Insoluble material was removed by two centrifugations (13,000 g for 10 min). The protein concentration in the supernatants was measured according to Bradford ( 1976! Anal. Biochem. 72, 248-254) using bovine albumin as standard. Equal amounts of soluble proteins were loaded onto SDS-PAGE for immunological studies.

Example 1

Purification of intact trehalose synthase

Intact trehalose synthase was purified from commercial baker's yeast. The method described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! for purification of "proteolytically activated TPS/P" was modified as follows:

1. All buffers contained 2 mM MgCl₂ and 1 mM EDTA. This increased yields in the early steps and probably helped to decrease proteolysis in the later steps.

2. In the first ammonium sulphate fractionation, the EDTA concentration was increased to 2.5 mM before addition of ammonium sulphate.

3. All buffers were adjusted to between 0.4 and 1 mM PMSF and between 4 and 10 μg pepstatin A/ml by addition, immediately before use, of the appropriate amount of a freshly prepared stock solution containing 1 mg pepstatin A/ml 0.1M PMSF in methanol (called, stock PMSF/pepstatin). When, as in chromatography, buffers were used for several hours, more stock PMSF/pepstatin was added at intervals, but so as not to exceed 1.5% methanol in the buffer, or a fresh lot of buffer was taken into use, because of the short half-life of PMSF in aqueous solution. All columns were equilibrated with at least one bed volume of buffer containing PMSF and pepstatin A immediately before application of enzyme.

4. Experience permitted the enzyme-containing fractions (a total of 17.8 ml in the preparation of Table 2) from Heparin-Sepharose to be identified as soon as they were eluted. Stock PMSF/pepstatin (150 μl) and 0.1M EDTA (200 μl) were immediately added to them. Then 7.2 g of powdered ammonium sulphate was slowly added (over 20 min). After 30 min equilibration, the mixture was centrifuged 15 min at 28,000 g. The pellets were packed for 5 min at 28,000 g and expressed buffer was removed with a pasteur pipette. The pellets were dissolved to 2.0 ml in HB2M1ED containing 0.8 mM PMSF and 8 μg pepstatin A/ml, centrifuged 5 min at 28,000 g and applied to a 2.6×34 cm column of Sepharose 6B freshly equilibrated with HB2M1ED containing 50 mM NaCl, 0.4 mM PMSF and 4 μg pepstatin A/ml. The interval between elution from Heparin-Sepharose and application to Sepharose 6B was 5 h. In the Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! procedure, the Heparin-Sepharose eluates were stored at about 3° C., without addition of PMSF or pepstatin A, for 5 days before the second ammonium sulphate fractionation and application to Sepharose 6B.

5. Fractions (3.7 ml) from the Sepharose 6B column were immediately mixed with 20 μl of stock PMSF/pepstatin and then assayed. Again, experience permitted the correct fractions to be pooled, based on activity and A280 measurements without SDS-PAGE analysis, and immediately applied to a 0.7×7 cm column of UDP-Glucuronate-Agarose equilibrated with HB2M1ED containing 50 mM NaCl, 0.4 mM PMSF and 4 μg pepstatin A/ml. The enzyme was eluted as described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! and 10 μl of stock PMSF/pepstatin added to each 1.7 ml fraction. Each fraction was divided into three. Two portions were stored at -70° C. and one at 0° C.

Table 2 summarizes a purification and FIG. 1 shows the SDS-PAGE analysis of fractions eluted from UDP-Glucuronate-Agarose. No obvious differences were apparent between enzyme eluted by 0.2M NaCl and that eluted by 10 mM UDPG/0.4M NaCl. The major bands present had molecular masses of 57, 99 and 123 kDa. Several weaker bands were present between the 123 kDa band and about 90 kDa. In Western analyses the 123 kDa, 99 kDa and most, if not all, of the fainter bands in this region were recognized by the anti-TPS/P and anti-93K sera. This suggests that the fainter bands are partially degraded long chains. The weak bands at 68 kDa also reacted with the anti-93K serum, but could be removed by chromatography on DEAE-cellulose (see Example 9). When the antibodies from anti-93K serum that bound to the 99 kDa band were eluted from a nitrocellulose blot as described by Pringle, J. R. (1991) Methods in Enzymolgy 194, 565-590! and used to probe another blot, they bound also to the 123 kDa band, showing that the two long chains of trehalose synthase have epitopes in common.

Intact enzyme binds less tightly to the UDP-Glucuronate-Agarose than the truncated enzyme purified by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! and the proportion of enzyme remaining bound at 0.2M NaCl varied from preparation to preparation. When #9 of Table 2 was re-run on the same column, 76% of the Tre6P synthase activity was again recovered at 0.2M NaCl (and 25% by 0.4M NaCl/10 mM UDPG), so that overloading of the column is not the reason why this enzyme eluted at 0.2M NaCl. However, when enzyme eluted at 0.2M NaCl was truncated with trypsin as described in Example 10, it then bound to the column at 0.2M NaCl and was only recovered at 0.4M NaCl/10 mM UDPG. Thus, as well as altering the kinetic properties of the enzyme (see Examples 10 & 12), this truncation also increases the affinity for UDP-Glucuronate-Agarose. Presumably there are subtle differences in factors such as the amount of adventitious proteolysis and state of aggregation between enzyme eluted at 0.2M NaCl and that remaining bound. For the preparation summarised in Table 2, the ratio of standard Tre6Pase and standard Tre6P synthase activities increased from 22% in #9 to 39% in #14, showing that there are differences, even though they could not be clearly detected by SDS-PAGE.

These findings disclose that a highly purified trehalose synthase, containing a 57 kDa short chain, a 123 kDa long chain and a 99 kDa polypeptide that is recognised by the anti-93K serum, possesses both Tre6P synthase activity activatable by TPS-Activator protein (or F6P) and Tre6Pase activity. The rate of hydrolysis of 1 mM G6P in either phosphate or Hepes buffer was less than 1% of that of 0.5 mM trehalose-6-phosphate, so that the Tre6Pase activity is highly specific. An unexpected finding is that this highly purified preparation contains the 99 kDa polypeptide, which is not present in the purified truncated trehalose synthase. It is disclosed later that this polypeptide is not a degradation product of the long (123 kDa) chain, whereas both the 86 and 93 kDa polypeptides of truncated enzyme contain amino acid sequences that identify them as fragments of the long (123 kDa) chain. This novel preparation possesses some unexpected catalytic properties, which are described in more detail in Example 11.

                                      TABLE 2                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Purification of intact trehalose synthase                                      The preparation is from 60 g of pressed baker's yeast. Tre6P                   synthase activities "Without Activator" were measured as                       described by Londesborough & Vuorio  (1991) loc. cit.!, i.e.,                  in the absence of F6P. Assays "With Activator" were determined                 similarly but in the presence of a saturating amount of pure                   TPS activator (similar values were obtained when some fractions                were later assayed in the presence of 5 mM F6P instead of TPS                  activator, and are shown in parentheses) . ND, not determined.                                Volume                                                                             Without Activator                                                                        With Activator                                    Fraction       (ml)                                                                               U/ml                                                                              U/mg                                                                              Total U                                                                            U/ml U/mg                                                                               Total U                                  __________________________________________________________________________     1st (NH.sub.4).sub.2 SO.sub.4  Precipitate                                                    13.4                                                                               58 1.0                                                                               810 ND   ND  ND.sup.b                                 G25 eluate     22.2                                                                               30 1.1                                                                               668 ND   ND  ND                                       Heparin-Sepharose eluate                                                                      18.2                                                                               ND ND ND  ≈21                                                                         ≈11                                                                        ≈380                             Sepharose 6B eluate                                                                           26  1.4                                                                               5.1                                                                               36  4.7  17  121                                      UDP-glucuronate agarose eluates:                                               at 0.2 M NaC1                                                                  #9             1.7 4.6                                                                               3.1                                                                               --  11.5(12)                                                                            12                                           #10            1.7 ND ND ND  12.2 21                                           #11            1.7 ND ND ND  6.3  23  58                                       #12            1.7 ND ND ND  3.9(3.3)                                                                            22                                           at 0.4 M NaC1/10 mM UDPG                                                       #13            1.7 2.1                                                                               -- --  5.9(6.2)                                                                            25-30.sup.a                                  #14            1.7 3.7                                                                               -- --  9.3  25-30.sup.a                                                                        27                                       #15            1.7 ND -- --  0.8  --                                           __________________________________________________________________________      .sup.a based on protein contents estimated from Coomassie bluestained          SDSPAGE gels                                                                   .sup.b Results from other preparations show that the activity with excess      TPSactivator (or 5 mM F6P) is not, at this step, more than 10% greater         than that without activator.                                             

Example 2

Increased expression by S. cerevisiae of the long and short chains of trehalose synthase after consumption of glucose

Three 500 ml lots of YP/2% glucose in 1 l shake flasks were each inoculated with 1 ml of a suspension of X2180 cells of A600 1.0 and shaken at 200 r.p.m. at 30° C. At the times shown in Table 3, the cells were harvested, broken and analyzed as described in General Materials and Methods. The 28,000 g supernatants were stored for a week at -18° C., thawed and re-centrifuged for 20 min at 28,000 g. Portions of 150 μl (each equivalent to 53 mg of fresh yeast) were mixed with 30 μl of anti-TPS/P serum, equilibrated for 30 min at 0° C. and centrifuged for 10 min at 10,000 g. The pellets were washed with 250 μl of HBMED and then dissolved in Laemmli sample buffer and subjected to SDS-PAGE (FIG. 2). Bands at 57, 99 and 123 kDa were strong in the sample (C) from stationary phase yeast and in the sample (B) harvested immediately after disappearance of glucose from the medium, but were absent or very weak in the sample (A) from yeast growing in the presence of 1.2% glucose.

                  TABLE 3                                                          ______________________________________                                         Appearance of Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities                           in X2180 yeast grown on YP/2% glucose.                                         Enzymes were assayed in the 28,000 g supernatants.                                               A        B       C                                           ______________________________________                                         Age (h)           16.1     18.1    39.0                                        Residual glucose  1.2      ≦0.001                                                                          ≦0.001                               (g/100 ml medium)                                                              Fresh yeast mass  7.6      14.8    29.5                                        (mg/ml medium)                                                                 Trehalose         0.73     3.1     94                                          (mg/g dry yeast)                                                               Tre6P synthase (U/g fresh yeast)                                                                 1.2      7.4     10.5                                        Tre6Pase (U/g fresh yeast)                                                                       0.29     2.2     3.0                                         Tre6P phosphatase/synthase (%)                                                                            2430    29                                          ______________________________________                                    

Control experiments (not shown) indicated that pre-immune serum did not precipitate the 57, 99 and 123 kDa bands, and that using 50 μl of serum instead of 30 μl did not precipitate more of these three bands from the C sample.

These results disclose that the co-ordinate, 7-fold increase in Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities that occurs during less than 2 h when glucose disappears from the medium is accompanied by increases in the amounts in yeast of three polypeptides, of mass 57, 99 and 123 kDa, that are immunoprecipitated by anti-TPS/P serum. These polypeptides are those found in the intact trehalose synthase purified in Example 1. Thus, increase in the amount of enzyme protein is a major mechanism by which the capacity of yeast to synthesize trehalose is increased.

Example 3

Determination of the N-terminal amino acid sequences of peptides isolated from the various polypeptides of trehalose synthase

The 57, 86 and 93 kDa polypeptides of the truncated trehalose synthase were separated by SDS-PAGE, digested on nitrocellulose blots and fractionated by HPLC as described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. Also, these polypeptides and polypeptides of molecular mass 57, 99 and 123 kDa immunoprecipitated from yeast extracts as described in Example 2 were separated by SDS-PAGE and digested in the gel with lysylendopeptidase C as described by Kawasaki, H., Emori, Y. and Suzuki, K. (in press). The derived peptides were separated by HPLC using a DEAE pre-column before the reverse-phase column essentially as described by Kawasaki et al (1990) Analytical Biochemistry 186, 264-268!. The 99 kDa polypeptide isolated by chromatography on phosphocellulose in the absence of triton (see Example 9) was digested with lysylendopeptidase C and the peptides separated by HPLC. In all cases, isolated peptides were sequenced in a gas-pulsed liquid phase sequencer as described by Kalkinen, N. & Tilgman, C (1988) Journal of Protein Chemistry 7, 242-243!, the released PTH-amino acids being analysed by on-line, narrow-bore, reverse-phase HPLC. The sequences are shown in Table 4.

Table 4. N-terminal amino acid sequences of peptides isolated from (fragments of) the polypeptides of trehalose synthase

When two sequences were obtained from the same HPLC peak, they are shown as a and b sequences, where possible according to the sequences predicted from the genes. Tentative identifications from the amino acid sequencer are shown by the one letter codes followed by double queries. Unidentified residues are shown by Xaa. (In the Sequence Listings, also tentatively identified residues are indicated as Xaa). The location of each amino acid sequence in the short (S) and long (123 kDa) (L) chains of FIGS. 3b and 4b is shown below the sequence.

    ______________________________________                                         Short (57 kDa) chain peptides                                                  Tryptic peptides from blots of the 57 kDa polypeptide tide from                truncated trehalose synthase.                                                  848   Tyr--Ile--Ser--Lys                                                             (SEQ ID NO:5) (S 463-66)                                                 850   Asp--Val--Glu--Glu--Tyr--Gln--Tyr--Leu--Arg                                    (SEQ ID NO:6) (S 333-41)                                                 859   His--Phe--Leu--Ser--Ser--Val--Gln--Arg                                         (SEQ ID NO:7) (S 223-30)                                                 862a  Val--Leu--Asn--Val--Asn--Thr--Leu--Pro--Asn--                                  Gly--Val--Glu--Tyr--Gln                                                        (SEQ ID NO:8) (S 231-44)                                                 862b  Ser--Val--Val--Asn--Glu--Leu--Val--Gly--Arg                                    (SEQ ID NO:9) (S 342-50)                                                 863   Leu--Tyr--Lys                                                                  (S 460-2)                                                                864   Glu--Thr--Phe--Lys                                                             (SEQ ID NO:10) (S 280-3)                                                 866   Leu--Asp--Tyr--Ile--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:11) (S 294-8)                                                 870   Ile--Leu--Pro--Val--Arg                                                        (SEQ ID NO:12) (S 196-200)                                               From lysylendopeptidase C digests of immunoprecipitated 57 kDa                 band                                                                           966a  Glu--Val--Asn--Xaa--Glu--Lys                                                   (SEQ ID NO:13) (S 454-9)                                                 966b  Phe--Tyr--Asp--Xaa--L??                                                        (SEQ ID NO:14) (not found)                                               980   Leu--Xaa--Ala--Met--Glu--Val--Phe--Leu--Asn--                                  Glu--Xaa--Pro--Glu                                                             (SEQ ID NO:15) (S 304-16)                                                981   Tyr--Thr--Ser--Ala--Phe--Trp--Gly--Glu--Asn--Phe--                             Val--Xaa--Glu--Leu                                                             (SEQ ID NO:16) (S 467-80)                                                987   Phe--Gly--Xaa--Pro--Gly--Leu--Glu--Ile--Pro                                    (SEQ ID NO:17) (S 63-71)                                                 Long (123 kDa) chain peptides                                                  Tryptic peptides from blots of the 86 and 93 kDa fragments.                    889   D??--Gly--Ser--Val--Met--Gln                                                   (SEQ ID NO:18) (L 587-592)                                               890/891                                                                              Leu--Pro--Gly--Ser--Tyr--Tyr--Lys                                              (SEQ ID NO:19) (L 917-23)                                                892a  Ala--Ile--Val--Val--Asn--Pro--Met--Asp--Ser--Val--Ala                          (SEQ ID NO:20) (see peptide 1299)                                        892b  Met--Ile--Ser--Ile--Leu                                                        (SEQ ID NO:21) (L 842-7)                                                 From lysylendopeptidase digest of combined 86 and 93 kDa                       fragments.                                                                     1171  Arg--Arg--Pro--Gln--Trp--Lys                                                   (SEQ ID NO:22) (L 770-5)                                                 From lysylendopeptidase digest of the 86 kDa fragment.                         1479  Thr--Leu--Met--Glu--Asp--Tyr--Gln--Ser--Ser--Lys                               (SEQ ID NO:52) (L 816-26)                                                1483a Ala--Phe--Glu--Asp--His--Ser--Trp--Lys                                         (SEQ ID NO:78) (L 445-52)                                                1483b Ala--Gly--His--Ala--Ile--Val--Tyr--Gly--                                       Asp--Ala--Thr--Ser--Thr--Tyr--Ala--Lys                                         (SEQ ID NO:79) (L 1064-79)                                               1481  Glu--Arg--Leu--Pro--Gly--Ser--Tyr--Tyr--Lys                                    (SEQ ID NO 80) (L 914-23)                                                From lysylendopeptidase digest of the 93 kDa fragment.                         1480  Thr--Leu--Met--Glu--Asp--Tyr--Gln                                              (SEQ ID NO:81) (L 816-23)                                                1484a Ala--Phe--Glu--Asp--His--Ser--Trp--Lys                                         (SEQ ID NO:78) (L 445-52)                                                1484b Ala--Gly--His--Ala--Ile--Val--Tyr--Gly--Asp--Ala--                             Thr--Ser--Thr--Tyr--Ala--Lys                                                   (SEQ ID NO:79) (L 1064-79)                                               1485  Glu--Arg--Leu--Pro--Gly--Ser--Tyr--Tyr--Lys                                    (SEQ ID NO:80) (L 914-23)                                                From lysylendopeptidase digests of immunoprecipitated 123 kDa                  band                                                                           1047  Ser--D??--Pro--Gln--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:23) (not found)                                               1048  Phe--Tyr--Arg--Asn--Leu--Asn--Gln--Arg--Phe--Ala--                             Asp--Ala--Ile--Val--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:24) (L 453-67)                                                1054a Asp--Gly--Ser--Val--Met--Gln--W??--                                            Xaa--Gln--Leu--I??                                                             (SEQ ID NO:25) (L 587-97)                                                1054b Asn--Ala--Ile--Asn--Thr--Ala--Val--Leu--                                       Glu--Asn--Ile--Ile--Pro--                                                      H??--Xaa--H??--Val--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:26) (L 360-77)                                                1061  Leu--Val--Asn--Asp--Glu--Ala--Ser--                                            Glu--Gly--Gln--Val--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:27) (L 1052-63)                                               1063  V??--Gln--Asp--Ile--Leu--Leu--Asn--                                            Asn--Thr--Phe--N??                                                             (SEQ ID NO:28) (not found)                                               1375  Phe--Leu--Val--Glu--Asn--Pro--Glu--                                            Tyr--Val--Glu--Lys                                                             (SEQ ID NO:50) (L 629-39)                                                1376  R??--Ile--Thr--Pro--His--Leu--Thr--                                            Ala--Xaa--Ala--Ala                                                             (SEQ ID NO:51) (L 245-55)                                                1377  Thr--Leu--Met--Glu--Asp--Tyr--Gln--Ser--Ser--Lys                               (SEQ ID NO:52) (L 816-26)                                                1378-I                                                                               Ile--Leu--Glu--Gly--Leu--Thr--Gly--Ala--Asp--Phe--                             Val--Gly--Phe--Gln--Thr                                                        (SEQ ID NO:53) (L 521-35)                                                1378-II                                                                              Gln--Ile--Leu--Xaa--Pro--Thr--Leu--                                            Xaa--Tyr--Gln--Ile--Pro--Asp--Asn                                              (SEQ ID NO:54) (L 427-40)                                                1380  Phe--Gly--Gly--Tyr--Ser--Asn--Lys                                              (SEQ ID NO:55) (L 319-25)                                                1381  Phe--Xaa--Thr--Glu--Asn--Ala--Glu--Asp--Gln--                                  Asp--Xaa--Val--Ala--Xaa--Val--Ile--Gly--                                       G??--Ala--Ile--Xaa--Xaa--Ile                                                   (SEQ ID NO:56) (L 931-53)                                                1382  Xaa--Val--Gly--Thr--Val--Gly--Ile--Pro--                                       Thr--Asp--Glu--Ile--Pro--Glu--Asn--Ile--Leu--Ala                               (SEQ ID NO:57) (L 378-95)                                                The 99 kDa polypeptide                                                         From lysylendopeptidase digests of immunoprecipitated 99 kDa                   band                                                                           959   Asp--Thr--Thr--Gln--Thr--Ala--Pro--Val--T??--                                  Asn--Asn--Val--Xaa--Pro                                                        (SEQ ID NO:29)                                                           961   Asn--Gln--Leu--Asp--Ala--A??--                                                 Asn--Tyr--Ala--Glu--Val                                                        (SEQ ID NO:30)                                                           1002a Asn--Leu--Ser--Arg--Trp--                                                      Arg--Asn--Tyr--Ala--Glu                                                        (SEQ ID NO:31)                                                           1002b Trp--Gln--Gly--Lys                                                             (SEQ ID NO:32)                                                           1043  Ile--Gln--Leu--Gly--Glu--Ser--Asn--                                            Asp--Asp--D??--L??                                                             (SEQ ID NO:33)                                                           1055  Glu--Val--Pro--Thr--Ile--Gln--                                                 Asp--Xaa--Thr--Asn--Lys                                                        (SEQ ID NO:34)                                                           1287  Xaa--Tyr--Xaa--Tyr--Val--Lys                                                   (SEQ ID NO:35)                                                           1297a Asn--Gln--Leu--Gly--Asn--Tyr                                                   (SEQ ID NO:36)                                                           1297b Val--Ala--Leu--Thr                                                             (SEQ ID NO:37)                                                           1299  Asp--Ala--Ile--Val--Val--Asn--                                                 Pro--Xaa--Asp--Ser--Val--Ala                                                   (SEQ ID NO:38)                                                           1306  Ser--Leu--Leu--Asp--Ala--Gly--Ala--Lys                                         (SEQ ID NO:44)                                                           1307a Glu--Lys--Pro--Gln--Asp--Leu--Asp--Asp--                                       Asp--Pro--Leu--Tyr--Leu--Thr                                                   (SEQ ID NO:45)                                                           1307b D??--Gln--Xaa--His--Gln--Asp--Xaa--                                            Xaa--Asn--Leu--Thr                                                             (SEQ ID NO:46)                                                           1308  Phe--Asn--Asp--Glu--Ser--Ile--Ile--Ile--Gly--                                  Tyr--Phe--P??--Xaa--Ala--Pro                                                   (SEQ ID NO:47)                                                           1309  Ser--Arg--Leu--Phe--Leu--Asp--Tyr--Asp--                                       Gly--Thr--Leu--Thr--Pro                                                        (SEQ ID NO:48)                                                           From lysylendopeptidase digest of 99 kDa protein purified on                   phosphocellulose                                                               1451  Gln--Leu--Gly--Asn--Tyr--Gly--                                                 Phe--Tyr--Pro--Val--Tyr                                                        (SEQ ID NO:49)                                                           ______________________________________                                    

Apart from peptide 966b, all the amino acid sequences determined from the short chain samples have been located in the protein sequence deduced from the TPS1 gene (see FIG. 3b). Apart from peptides 892a, 1047 and 1063, all the amino acid sequences determined from the 86 and 93 kDa fragments of the long chain and from the intact 123 kDa long chain itself have been located in the protein sequence deduced from TSL1. The HPLC profiles obtained from digests of the 86 kDa fragment were essentially identical with those from digests of the 93 kDa fragment when either trypsin or lysylendopeptidase C was used (not shown). Also, corresponding HPLC peaks from 86 and 93 kDa digests yielded the same sequences or double sequences (peptide pairs 890 & 891; 1479 & 1480; 1483a,b & 1484a,b; 1481 & 1485). These results disclose that both the 86 and 93 kDa polypeptides in truncated enzyme are derived from the 123 kDa long chain encoded by TSL1. In particular, it is not the case that one or other of these fragments is derived from the 99 kDa polypeptide, although contamination with minor amounts of (degradation products of) that polypeptide is probable (see below).

None of the 16 amino acid sequences obtained from the 99 kDa polypeptide is encoded by TSL1. The first 5 residues of peptide 1451 from the 99 kDa polypeptide purified on phosphocellulose are identical with the last 5 residues of peptide 1297a from immunoprecipitated 99 kDa polypeptide. This confirms that the 99 kDa polypeptide immunoprecipitated by anti-TPS/P serum from yeast extracts is the same as the 99 kDa polypeptide in purified intact enzyme. These results disclose that the 99 kDa polypeptide is not encoded by TSL1 (or TPS1) but by another gene, which the inventors call TSL2.

The origin of peptides 1047 and 1063 found in the digest of the intact (123 kDa) long chain is not known. The only peptide from the long chain fragments of truncated enzyme not encoded by TSL1 is 892a from the 93 kDa fragment. This is identical with the last 11 residues of peptide 1299 from the 99 kDa polypeptide. This suggests that the 93 kDa band was contaminated with some material derived from the 99 kDa polypeptide, although this polypeptide itself was not visible in SDS-PAGE analyses of the truncated enzyme. The identical HPLC profiles of digests of the 86 and 93 kDa fragments and the fact that only one peptide derived from the 99 kDa polypeptide was identified in these digests shows that the contamination was at a low level. This discloses that a functional truncated trehalose synthase with both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities probably requires only polypeptides encoded by TPS1 and TSL1.

Example 4

Cloning and sequencing of TPS1

(a) Preparation and screening of a yeast genomic DNA library

A genomic library was constructed in the bacteriophage lambda vector, Lambda Zap II, using a partial HaeIII digest of S. cerevisiae strain S288C chromosomal DNA, according to Stratagene's Instruction Manual for the Zap-cDNA synthesis kit. The DNA from the ligation reaction was packaged into Giga II Gold packaging extract (Stratagene) according to the manufacturer's instructions (1990). The titer of the recombinants was determined on Luria broth plates containing X-β-galactoside (5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indoyl-β-D-galactopyranoside) as a chromogenic substrate for β-galactosidase and IPTG (isopropyl β-D-thiogalactopyranoside) as an inducer. About 50,000 recombinants were amplified on large (150 mm) NZY-plates according to Stratagene's instructions. The titre of the resulting library was 5×10⁹ pfu/ml with a total of 150 ml.

Several positive clones were found by screening with anti-TPS/P serum. After three rounds of purification, all clones were positive. They were screened again, now with anti-57K serum.

For further manipulations of DNA, the plasmid part, pBluescript, of the Lambda Zap vector was excised as described in the manual for Predigested Lambda ZapII/EcoR1 Cloning Kit (1989).

(b) Sequencing of TPS1

A strongly positive clone from the Lambda ZapII library was selected and sequenced manually. The sequence obtained included an open reading frame that encoded a 58 kDa protein, but none of the short chain peptide sequences disclosed in Example 3 was found in the amino acid sequence encoded by this ORF.

Therefore, a second clone was selected, from a group of clones that gave distinct restriction maps compared with the group including the first clone. It also responded less strongly to anti-57K serum, which is why it was not chosen in the first place. It was sequenced using the Exonuclease III/Mung Bean nuclease system for producing series of unidirectional deletions. The deletions were prepared according to Stratagene's manual for the pBluescript Exo/Mung DNA sequencing system. The plasmid was first digested with the restriction enzymes SacI, which leaves a 3' overhang, and BamHI, which leaves a 5' overhang. For filling in possible recessed 3' termini created by Mung Bean nuclease, 2.5 μl of 10× nick-translation buffer, 1 μl of dNTP (a mixture of all four dNTPs, each at 2 mM) and 1 μl (2U) of Klenow fragment were added. The reaction proceeded for 30 min at room temperature and was then stopped with 1 μl of 0,5M EDTA Sambrook et al. (1989) loc. cit.!. The deletion time points were run on a 0.8% low melting agarose gel. The bands were cut out, melted and ligated according to Stratagene's instructions. Portions (5 μl) of each ligation mixture were used to transform XL-1 Blue cells.

The clone proved to encode all the short chain peptide sequences disclosed in Example 3, except the poorly defined pentapeptide, 966b. It is notable that the anti-57K serum alone was an inadequate tool for cloning this gene: the amino acid sequence data disclosed in Example 3 were also essential. Comparison of sequences with the Microgenie Data Bank showed that the gene sequence of the clone was available as an unknown reading frame in the post-translational region of the gene for yeast (S. cerevisiae) vacuolar H⁺ -ATPase. The data in the bank contain sequence errors, and have thus been erroneously interpreted as two short unidentified ORFs instead of one long ORF. The complete sequence of the TPS1 gene with 800 bp of promoter and 200 bp of terminator regions is disclosed as SEQ ID NO:1 and the amino acid sequence deduced from its ORF (starting at nucleotide 796) as SEQ ID NO:2. SEQ ID NO:1 now incorporates the following minor corrections to the promoter region, made since February 14th 1992: the original nucleotides 60 and 61 (CA) become AC, original nucleotides 646 to 653 (CGCGTGGT) become GCCGGG and the original nucleotide 711 (C) is deleted. FIG. 3A shows the promoter and terminator regions, and FIG. 3b shows the deduced amino acid sequence.

Example 5

Cloning and sequencing of TSL1 and TSL2

(a) Preparation and screening of genomic DNA libraries

The gene TSL1 was first found in the same library as described in Example 4. Screening was done using first anti-TPS/P serum and then anti-93K serum. Later, another library was constructed from a partial EcoR1 digest of chromosomal DNA from S. cerevisiae, strain S288C, using the methods described in Example 4. The anti-93K positive clones were classified by restriction mapping into groups, not all of which can represent TSL1.

(b) Sequencing of TSL1

Clones from one group of anti-93K positive clones from the HaeIII library were partially sequenced manually and then automatically from pBluescript exonuclease deletion series as described in Example 4.

The HaeIII clones did not contain the whole of this long gene, and the N-terminus was not found in any clone. Therefore, the new EcoR1 library was constructed and screened, first with anti-93K serum and then with nucleotide probes derived from the sequenced parts of TSL1.

Several anti-93K positive clones, which also hybridized with the nucleotide probes, were obtained. These contained a plasmid with an 8.2 kb insert. From this plasmid a 2 kb fragment was cut with restriction enzymes StuI and ScaI, religated into the pBluescript SmaI site and sequenced using exonuclease deletions. The deletions were started using the enzymes SacI and SpeI. Sequencing was done with the automatic sequencer. The sequence of TSL1 was thus completed.

The complete sequence is contained in the 8.2 kb insert of the EcoRI clones, and has been deposited as plasmid pALK751 on Feb. 18, 1992 with the Deutsche Sammlung von Microorganismen (DSM), Gesellschaft fur Biotechnologische Forschung GmbH, Grisebachstr. 8, 3400 Gottingen, Germany and given the accession number DSM 6928.

The sequence is shown as SEQ ID NO:83. Nucleotides 2282 to 5575 comprise an ORF that encodes the amino acid sequence SEQ ID NO: 82. The promoter and terminator regions and amino acid sequence are also shown in FIG. 4. The amino acid sequence includes the amino acid sequences obtained from (fragments of) the long (123 kDa) chain of trehalose synthase disclosed and discussed in Example 3.

(c) Isolation and sequencing of TSL2

The information disclosed about the 99 kDa polypeptide (especially in Examples 1 & 3) provides obvious procedures for the isolation and characterization of the TSL2 gene by one ordinarily skilled in the art. Because the anti-93K serum recognizes the 99 kDa polypeptide, anti-93K positive clones isolated as described above can include clones representing TSL2. Several positive clones not representing TSL1 were identified by restriction mapping. One of these was deposited on Jan. 28th 1993 as the plasmid pALK756 (see Table 1) with the Deutsche Sammlung von Mikroorganismen und Zellkulturen GmbH, Mascheroder Weg 1 B, D-3300 Braunschweig, Germany (Accession number DSM 7425). This plasmid comprises a 3.5 kb insert in pBluescript. The insert was not cut by the restriction enzymes, NotI, SacI, SpeI or XhoI. The sequences of these and similar clones can be examined to identify an ORF that encodes the amino acid sequences of peptides isolated from the 99 kDa polypeptide (viz., SEQ ID NO:S 29 to 38 and 44 to 49). Another well established procedure is to use these amino acid sequences to design nucleotide primers that can be used to amplify parts of the TSL2 gene by the polymerase chain reaction. When a part of the TSL2 gene has been isolated and sequenced by either procedure, the rest of the gene can be easily isolated as described for TSL1.

Example 6

Characterization of TPS1 and TSL1

The nucleotide sequence of TPS1 encodes a polypeptide of 495 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 56 kDa. This open reading frame starts with an ATG codon and ends with two TGA codons. The promoter region contains a TATA box at -178 (see FIG. 3) and the sequence CCCCGC at -270, which has been implicated in catabolite repression Nehlin & Ronne, (1990) European Molecular Biology organization Journal 9, 2891-2898!. This may account for the low expression of trehalose synthase in the presence of glucose disclosed in Example 2.

The open reading frame of TSL1 encodes a polypeptide of 1098 amino acids, corresponding to a calculated molecular mass of 123 kDa. This ORF starts with an ATG codon and ends with a TAA codon. Sixty base pairs downstream from the TAA codon is a possible TATATA transcription termination element Russo et al. (1991) European Molecular Biology Organization Journal 10, 563-571!.

The promoter sequence of TSL1 contains two putative TATA boxes at -100 and -117. The promoter was searched for possible heat shock elements and four AAGGGG elements were found (-166, -180, -232 and -378). Of these, the one furthest upstream, at -378, was part of the sequence GGTAAAAGGGGCGAA, which corresponds well to the UAS₋₃₆₀ heat shock stress control element GGTAAGGGGCCAA Marchler, G. et al (1992) Yeast 8, S154!. Two copies of the canonical heat shock element GAANNTTC were found, one at -353 and the other at -425; thus, one on either side of the UAS₋₃₆₀ element.

The sequence GCCCCTGCATTTT at -327 could be a MIG1 protein binding site (the consensus sequence is TCCCCRGATTNT). MIG1 appears to act as a repressor of transcription in the presence of glucose Nehlin, J. O. & Ronne, H. (1990) European Molecular Biology organization Journal 9, 2891-2898; Nehlin, J. O. et al (1991) ibid 10, 3373-3378!. These features of the TSL1 sequence are shown in FIG. 4.

The amino acid sequence encoded by TSL1 contains two polyglutamine tracts, four Qs starting at amino acid 42 and five Qs starting at 164. Such glutamine-rich sequences have been associated with heteromeric protein-protein interaction Gancedo, J.-M. (1992) European Journal of Biochemistry 206, 297-313!.

FIG. 5 discloses that the entire TPS1 gene exhibits 37% identity at the amino acid level to a 502 amino acid stretch from the middle of the TSL1 product. The genes are obviously closely related.

Most surprisingly, the TPS1 gene is identical to the CIF1 gene that has been recently cloned and sequenced by Gancedo's group Gonzales et al (1992) Yeast 8 183-192!. This disclosure reveals that special methodology is required to handle mutants containing modified forms of the TPS1 gene, because cif1 mutants have severe defects in sugar metabolism, as discussed in the Detailed Description. It also explains, of course, why no recognisable short chain is present in the Klg 102 mutants, which carry the cifl mutation (see Example 7). Previously, it has been (tacitly) assumed that failure of cifl and fdp1 mutants to express Tre6P synthase activity is the consequence of a lengthy cascade of regulatory effects. The findings disclosed here and in Example 7 show that absence of the short chain of trehalose synthase is the primary defect, from which, in an as yet completely obscure way, the other regulatory defects of these mutants result.

S.cerevisiae chromosomes were separated by pulsed field electrophoresis, with pulse times of 60 sec for 15 h and 90 sec for 9 h at 200 volts, as recommended by the instruction manual for the CHEF-DR II BioRad Laboratories, Richmond, Calif.!. Genes were located using digoxigenin-labelled non-radioactive probes, following the instructions in the manual by Boehringer Mannheim. The following probes were used: a 2.1 kb DraI restriction fragment from TSL1 and a 1.9 kb NarI-SmaI restriction fragment of TPS1 (the SmaI site is in the linker between the insert and the vector; important restriction sites in TPS1 and TSL1 are shown in FIG. 6). TPS1 was located exclusively on Chromosome 2, which is where both FDP1 Van de Poll and Schambert (1977) loc. cit.! and CIF1 Gonzales et al. (1992) loc. cit.! have been located. This disclosure further strengthens the evidence for the identity of TPS1 with CIF1 and FDP1 . By using the Gal4 gene as a marker for chromosome 16 TSL1 was located exclusively on the adjacent Chromosome 13. Immediately downstream of TSL1 lies, in opposite orientation, the ARGRII gene, sequenced by Messenguy et. al. (1986) European Journal of Biochemistry 157, 77-81!. The start of the overlapping sequence is shown in FIG. 4.

Example 7

A functional TPS1 gene is required for expression of both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities

The S. cerevisiae mutant Klg 102, was obtained from Dan Fraenkel (Harvard Medical School) and has the genotype MATαA, ural, leu1, trp5, cif1-102. It was routinely grown on YP/2% galactose or YP/2% glucose, and long term storage was under liquid nitrogen. As reported by others Navon, G., et al. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 4487-4499; Banuelos, M. & Fraenkel, D. G. (1982) Molecular and Cellular Biology 2, 921-929!, this mutant would not grow on YP/2% fructose, though revertants were frequent.

Six individual colonies from each of two substrains of Klg 102, ALKO 2669 and ALKO 2670, that differed in reversion frequency and colony size, were streaked onto YP/2% fructose and YP/2% glucose at 30° C. After 45 h, all 12 streaks were growing on glucose, although slower than the control yeast, X2180, but none showed any growth on fructose. After 4 days, five of the ALKO 2669 streaks showed several large, but isolated colonies on fructose and one ALKO 2670 streak showed several small colonies on fructose. From the glucose plates, three streaks from each substrain were chosen for the smallest number of revertants on the corresponding fructose plate, and used to inoculate 100 ml portions of YPD in 250 ml shake flasks, and grown at 200 r.p.m. and 30° C. Three parallel flasks were inoculated with X2180. A600 and residual glucose in the media were monitored and samples were plated out quantitatively onto YP/2% glucose and YP/2% fructose. The ALKO 2669 cultures grew faster than the ALKO 2670 cultures, and both grew much slower then X2180 (not shown).

At appropriate times the cells were harvested, broken and analyzed as described in the General Materials and Methods. The results in Table 5 show that Tre6P synthase activity was below the detection level in the Klg 102 samples and less than 0.5% of the value in X2180, which is typical of wild type S. cerevisiae. This agrees with previously reported results Paschoalin, V. M. F., et al. (1989) Current Genetics 16, 81-87!. Surprisingly, however, Tre6Pase activities were also very low, between≦1% and 5% of the X2180 values. Even this residual ability to hydrolyse trehalose-6-phosphate is likely to be due to non-specific phosphatases. Paschoalin et al. (1989) loc. cit.! claim that Klg 102 specifically lacks UDPG-linked Tre6P synthase activity, but that, like the wild-type yeast S288C (which is the haploid form of X2180), it contains an ADPG-linked activity. If this were true, and accepting the conventional view that trehalose synthesis in yeast proceeds via free trehalose-6-phosphate, Klg 102 should contain significant Tre6Pase activity. Our results disclose that this is not the case. Furthermore, when we tested whether wild type yeast (X2180) was able to synthesise ¹⁴ C!-trehalose from ¹⁴ C!-G6P in the presence of UDPG or ADPG, we found significant activity only in the presence of UDPG. The assay systems used by Paschoalin et al. (1989) loc. cit.! have been criticised by Vandercammen et al. (1989) loc. cit.!, so we tested the overall reaction directly. Yeast extracts were incubated in 40 mM HEPES pH 6.8 containing 1 mg BSA/ml, 10 mM MgCl₂ and 10 mM U ¹⁴ C!-G6P (736 c.p.m./nmol) in the presence or

                                      TABLE 5                                      __________________________________________________________________________     Growth of Klg 102 and X2180 strains on YPD                                            Residual                  Viability                                         Age                                                                               Glucose                                                                             Cell Mass                                                                           PGI                                                                               TPS TPP Trehalose                                                                           Fru/Glu                                       Strain                                                                             (h)                                                                               (g %)                                                                               (mg/ml)                                                                             (U/G)                                                                             (U/G)                                                                              (U/G)                                                                              (mg/g)                                                                              (%)                                           __________________________________________________________________________     Klg 102 cultures                                                               2669/1                                                                             24 ND   4.3  88 ≦0.02                                                                       ND  ND   2.4                                           2669/2                                                                             48 ≦0.02                                                                        11.6 81 ≦0.03                                                                       0.034                                                                              ND   ≦1.7                                   2669/3                                                                             114                                                                               none 10.3 ND ND  ≦0.02                                                                       ≦0.22                                                                        ≦1.8                                   2670/1                                                                             110                          1.4                                           2670/2                                                                             110                                                                               none 9.7  89 ≦0.03                                                                       0.081                                                                              ND   4.0                                           2670/3                                                                             114                                                                               none 11.2 ND ND  ≦0.02                                                                       ≦0.19                                                                        ≦0.3                                   X2180 cultures                                                                 1   24 ND   19.1 93 6.3 1.7 ND   ND                                            2   110                                                                               none 31.7 126                                                                               6.3 2.3 ND   ND                                            3   114                                                                               none 34.4 ND ND  2.9 29.3 ND                                            __________________________________________________________________________      The cultures were performed as described in the text. Residual glucose an      cell mass are given as, respectively, g/100 ml and mg/ml of growth medium      Phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI) was determined as described in Example 11.         PGI, Tre6P synthase (TPS) and Tre6Pase (TPP) are given as U/g of wet cell      (Tre6P synthase was determined in the presence of 5 mM F6P). Trehalose is      given as mg/g of wet cells. Viability Fru/Glu shows the number of cells        able to grow on fructose as a percentage of the number of cells able to        grow on glucose at the time of harvesting. Cells from the cultures 2670/1      and 2670/2 were combined for breakage and subsequent analysis.                 ND, not determined.                                                      

absence of 5 mM UDPG or 2.5 mM ADPG and presence or absence of 5 mM K phosphate. Reactions were stopped by boiling for 2 min and addition of AGl-X8 (formate) anion exchange resin, as in the Tre6Pase assay system described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. Results are shown in FIG. 7. Without UDPG or ADPG, radioactivity appeared in the resin supernatants, presumably due to phosphatases active on G6P. UDPG caused a clear increase in this rate in the absence of phosphate and a marked increase in the presence of 5 mM phosphate, which stimulates the Tre6Pase activity and inhibits the Tre6P synthase activity of trehalose synthase. With UDPG and 5 mM phosphate, the increase in rate corresponded, after a lag phase, to 0.94 μmol/min/g of fresh yeast, which is about 50% of the Tre6Pase activity of this yeast at 20 mM phosphate. ADPG, however, did not cause any significant increase in the rate of appearance of radioactivity in the resin supernatant, indicating that no ADPG-linked Tre6P synthase activity was present.

Western blots of the homogenates of Klg 102 and X2180 yeast are shown in FIG. 8. The origin of the bands marked D is not clear: they may be degraded short chain. X2180 shows a strong 57 kDa band, due to the short chain of trehalose synthase and several weak bands at 100 to 130 kDa due to intact and truncated versions of the long chain. In contrast, although the Klg 102 samples showed stronger long chain bands, because more yeast sample was applied to the gel, they showed no trace of a short chain band. Thus, Klg 102 does not contain a recognisable form of the product of the TPS1 gene (it might contain a truncated version lacking the epitopes recognised by our polyclonal antibodies), but contains normal amounts of the TSL1 product. Furthermore, the TSL1 product appears to increase as Klg 102 traverses the diauxic lag (compare e.g. lanes 3 and 2 of FIG. 8), suggesting that expression of the long chain of trehalose synthase in this yeast increases when all glucose is consumed. In wild type yeast, increases in both short and long chains occur concomitant with the increases in Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities when glucose is consumed (Example 2).

These results disclose that the failure of Klg 102 to express immunologically recognisable short chain of trehalose synthase is correlated with the absence of both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities. This unexpected behaviour, in contradiction of the views of Paschoalin et al. (1989) loc. cit.!, indicates that a functional short chain is required to assemble a trehalose synthase with either partial activity.

Similar experiments were done with S. cerevisiae, strain MV6807 (obtained from Johan Thevelein, Laboratorium voor Moleculaire Celbiologie, Instituut voor Plantkunde, Heverlee, Belgium), which carries the fdp1 mutation, which is allelic to CIF1 and TPS1. This strain grew poorly on glucose (fructose was not tested) and so was grown on galactose. Stationary phase cells contained 6±6% of normal Tre6P synthase but about 20% of normal Tre6Pase. Western analyses showed the presence of a band at 57 kDa recognised by anti-57K serum as well as normal long chain bands, so the mutation in MV6807 must be an aminoacid substitution. Apparently, this substitution causes a greater decrease in Tre6P synthase activity than Tre6Pase activity.

Example 8

Biochemical evidence that a long chain of trehalose synthase is required for Tre6Pase activity

Truncated trehalose synthase containing the short (57 kDa) chain and the 86 and 93 kDa long chain fragments was prepared according to the method of Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! for proteolytically activated TPS/P complex. Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities were assayed as described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. N-ethyl-1-¹⁴ C!-maleimide (ethyl-labelled NEM; 40 mCi/mmol) was NEC-454 from New England Nuclear. N-ethyl- 2,3-¹⁴ C!-maleimide (ring-labelled NEM; 6 mCi/mmol) was CFA 293 from Amersham International. Both were obtained as solutions in n-pentane and the manufacturer's stated specific activities were assumed to be correct. Unlabelled N-ethyl-maleimide (NEM) was E-3876 from Sigma. It was dissolved in 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 immediately before use and standardized by absorption measurements at 305 nm, assuming an E^(mM) of 0.62.

Treatment of truncated trehalose synthase with 1.9 mM NEM at 24° C. in the presence of about 0.17 mM dithiothreitol (which presumably rapidly consumes about 0.34 mM NEM) caused a rapid and essentially complete (≧98%) loss of Tre6Pase activity, but little (≦24%) loss of Tre6P synthase activity (FIG. 9). This suggested that NEM modified one or more amino acid (presumably cysteine) side chains that are required intact for Tre6Pase but not for Tre6P synthase.

To permit quantitative experiments with low concentrations of labelled NEM, the dithiothreitol in the enzyme preparation was removed by gel-filtration through Pharmacia NAP5 columns equilibrated with 1 mg BSA/ml of 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 2 mM MgCl₂, 1 mM EDTA and 0.2M NaCl. Recoveries of Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities through this gel-filtration were above 85%.

In one experiment, 2.0 μl of 2.4 mM ethyl-labelled NEM was mixed with 150 μl of gel-filtered enzyme and incubated at 23° C. Samples (10 μl) taken at various times up to 190 min were mixed with 60 μl of Laemmli sample buffer (the mercapto-ethanol in this buffer should destroy residual NEM), boiled for 5 min and subjected to SDS-PAGE. At closely similar times (and also at 23 h) other samples (10 μl) were mixed with 100 μl (for Tre6P synthase) or 700 μl (for Tre6Pase) of 5 mg BSA/ml 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 2 mM MgCl₂, 1 mM EDTA, 0.2M NaCl and 1 mM dithiothreitol (the dithiothreitol should destroy residual NEM) and assayed for Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase. The enzyme dilution used for the Tre6Pase assay was sufficient that radioactivity from the NEM (about 1/3 of which remains in the resin supernatant) did not interfere with the Tre6Pase determinations.

After electrophoresis, the upper (cathode) buffer, containing most of the added radioactivity, was completely removed before disassembling the apparatus. The gel was then fixed, stained and destained as described by Laemmli (1970) Nature, London 227, 680-685! and dried. An autoradiogram of this gel (FIG. 10) showed that the 93 kDa band (and also BSA) became labelled during the experiment, while the 86 and 57 kDa bands were much more weakly labelled. The Coomassie blue stained bands and adjacent, empty areas (as blanks) were cut out of the dried gel (in later experiments, they were cut from undried gels), broken up and extracted overnight with 1 ml of 5% SDS in pre-blanked scintillation vials. Then 10 ml of a toluene/Triton X100-based scintillant was added, and the tubes were repeatedly counted using a wide energy window to minimise quench effects. After 10 h constant counting levels were reached. Excess radioactivity was calculated by subtracting a blank value obtained from empty regions of the gel. Results are shown in FIG. 11. In control experiments, in which enzyme was omitted, it was shown that the excess radioactivity found in the 93 and 86 kDa bands did not originate from potential labelling of impurities in the BSA.

FIG. 11 shows that label from NEM enters mainly the 93 kDa fragment of the long chain, with relatively small amounts entering the 86 kDa fragment and the 57 kDa short chain. Also, the amount of label entering the long chain fragments (93+86 kDa) is roughly proportional to the loss of Tre6Pase activity, but lags increasingly behind this loss: at 10.5 min 30% of the initial Tre6Pase was lost and 0.20 moles of NEM had entered the long chain fragments per mole (150 Kg) of enzyme, whereas at 190 min, 56% of Tre6Pase was lost and 0.32 moles of NEM had entered the long chain fragments. Possibly, since trehalose synthase may be an octamer (its native molecular mass is about 800 kDa), reaction of one long chain with NEM can eventually lead to loss of activity associated with the other long chains in the octamer. FIG. 12 collates data from several experiments, using both ring- and ethyl-labelled NEM. Parallel experiments with identical concentrations of ring- and ethyl-labelled NEM suggested that about 25 a of the radioactivity from ethyl-labelled NEM originally fixed in the protein was lost during SDS-PAGE processing (some loss is expected in acidic condition), and the results with ethyl-labelled NEM have been corrected accordingly. Within the limits of accuracy (a specific activity of 30 Tre6P synthase units/mg was used to calculate the mass of protein and a dimer molecular mass of 150 kDa was assumed for the truncated enzyme) complete loss of Tre6Pase reflected incorporation of rather less than 1 mole of NEM into, specifically, the long chain fragments.

Another reagent with high specificity for cysteine, dithiodinitro-benzoate (DTNB), also caused a specific loss of Tre6Pase activity: after 10 min treatment with 0,9 mM DTNB over 95% of the Tre6Pase was lost and less than 28% of the Tre6P synthase.

These findings disclose that Tre6Pase activity requires a long chain with a proper structure, because modification of a single amino acid (presumable cysteine) residue in the 93 kDa fragment eliminates Tre6Pase but not Tre6P synthase activity. Sequencing data given in Example 3 disclosed that the 93 kDa band contained material from both the 99 kDa and 123 kDa long chains. Thus, the present results disclose that either the 99 kDa or the 123 kDa or both long chains are involved in Tre6Pase activity.

Example 9

An isolated 99 kDa polypeptide from trehalose synthase contains Tre6Pase activity

Because the long and short chains of trehalose synthase were difficult to separate by usual chromatographic procedures, fractionations were attempted in the presence of a non-ionic detergent. During fractionation with a NaCl gradient on DEAE-cellulose (Whatman DE52) in 1% Triton X100 at pH 8.0, the enzyme was recovered in about 90% yield at 140 mM NaCl. Some minor polypeptides (e.g. the weak 68 kDa polypeptides visible in FIG. 1) were removed, but the main 57, 99 and 123 kDa polypeptides were not resolved. However, the ratio of the 99 and 123 kDa bands changed from about 1.5 to 0.3 across the enzyme peak, while concomitantly the Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio decreased steadily from 0.54 to 0.42 (data not shown). This suggested that the procedure was partially resolving trehalose synthase molecules enriched in the 99 kDa polypeptide from those enriched in the 123 kDa polypeptide and that the former had a relatively higher Tre6Pase activity. By extrapolation it can be calculated that the Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio of (hypothetical) enzyme containing only 57 and 99 kDa chains would be 0.65±0.10, whereas that of enzyme with only 57 and 123 kDa chains would be 0.32±0.10.

Because the long chain appears to contain an avid phosphate binding site (see Examples 10 and 12), chromatography on phosphocellulose was attempted. Native trehalose synthase (4.2 Tre6P synthase units) was transferred above a PM10 membrane in an Amicon cell to 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 2 mM MgC12, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol and 0.3% Triton X100 (HMED/0.3 %T) and applied to a 0.7×4.2 cm column of phosphocellulose (Whatman P11-cellulose) equilibrated with the same buffer. The column was washed with 4 ml of HMED/0.3 %T and developed with a linear gradient from zero to 0.6M NaCl in 60 ml of HMED/0.3 %T at 5 ml/h. By 0.35M NaCl only traces of Tre6P synthase had been eluted (≦3% in the first 9 ml and s 9% spread between 0.15 and 0.35M NaCl). The gradient was interrupted and the column was washed sequentially with (a) 8 ml of 10 mM fructose-6-phosphate in HMED/0.3 %T/0.35M NaCl, (b) 6 ml of HMED/0.3 %T/0.6M NaCl and (c) 0.2M K phosphate pH 7.0/2 mM MgCl₂ /1 mM EDTA/1 mM dithiothreitol. No Tre6P synthase or Tre6Pase activity was recovered except in a single 1.5 ml fraction in which the 0.6M NaCl began to elute. This contained 12% of the applied Tre6Pase, but≦0.1% of the applied Tre6P synthase.

Fractions were examined by SDS-PAGE (FIG. 13), which showed: (1) almost pure short chain eluted at and just before the start of the NaCl gradient in fractions devoid of enzyme activity; (2) traces of short and long chain eluted diffusely at about 0.2 to 0.35M NaCl in fractions containing altogether≦7% of the applied Tre6P synthase activity; (3) at least 50% and possibly all of the applied 99 kDa polypeptide eluted at 0.6M NaCl in the fraction containing 12% of the applied Tre6Pase activity; and (4) most of the 123 kDa polypeptide remained bound to the column.

Intact trehalose synthase has also been fractionated on phosphocellulose in the absence of Triton, and with elution by a simple linear gradient from 0 to 0.6M NaCl. Pure or nearly pure 99 kDa polypeptide eluted at about 0.45M NaCl and contained specific Tre6Pase activity (¹⁴ C-G6P was not hydrolyzed). This activity differed from the Tre6Pase activity of intact trehalose synthase in that the ratio of activities at 25 mM phosphate and 50 mM Hepes was between 1.5 and 3 in different experiments (cf, this ratio is 5 to 6 for intact trehalose synthase). Furthermore, during storage of the isolated 99 kDa polypeptide at 0° C., the Tre6Pase activity at 25 mM phosphate decreased and that at 50 mM Hepes increased, until the ratio was about 0.7 after 7 weeks.

These findings disclose that the 99 kDa polypeptide isolated from intact trehalose synthase is a specific trehalose-6-phosphatase, but that its catalytic properties are unstable and differ from the Tre6Pase activity of intact trehalose synthase. Together with the disclosure in Example 7 that yeast requires a properly functional TPS1 gene to exhibit Tre6Pase activity, the results suggest that proper folding of the 99 kDa polypeptide requires the presence of the 57 kDa chain. These findings also disclose that when the short chain is separated from the long chain by chromatography in a buffer containing 0.3% Triton, in which intact trehalose synthase is stable, it rapidly looses any Tre6Pase or Tre6P synthase activity it possessed when correctly folded in the trehalose synthase.

The findings also indicate that the full-length long chain has extraordinarily high affinity for phosphocellulose, which is consistent with the location of a high affinity phosphate binding site in a terminal portion of this chain as suggested by Examples 10 and 12.

Example 10

Truncation of the 123 kDa long chain of trehalose synthase by trypsin in vitro dramatically increases Tre6P synthase activity

Removal of the N-terminal 325 or so amino acids from the 123 kDa long chain of intact trehalose synthase by treatment with trypsin in vitro produces an enzyme with catalytic properties like those of the truncated enzyme purified by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. In one experiment intact trehalose synthase (0.28 Tre6P synthase units, ≈9.4 μg) was incubated with or without 0.5 μg of trypsin at 30° C. in 250 μl of 13 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 1 mM MgCl₂, 0.5 mM EDTA, 0.5 mM dithiothreitol, 0.2M NaCl and 0.5 mM benzamidine. Its Tre6P synthase activity was determined at intervals using standard assay mixtures (containing 5 mM F6P) containing no or 4 mM K phosphate pH 6.8, and samples were prepared for SDS-PAGE analysis immediately before and 48 min after addition of the trypsin.

During the first 48 min the Tre6P synthase activity measured in the absence of phosphate decreased faster in the presence of trypsin than in its absence. However, in the first 10 min, trypsin caused a 4-fold increase in the activity measured at 4 mM phosphate, and by 48 min the activities with and without phosphate were essentially equal (FIG. 14). By 48 min, the 123 kDa full length long chain had disappeared and been replaced by a doublet of polypeptides at 85 kDa (FIG. 15). In contrast, the short chain (57 kDa) was unchanged and the 99 kDa band was only slightly decreased in strength. The changes in Tre6P synthase activity were accompanied by loss of about 50% of the Tre6Pase activity.

Which part of the 123 kDa chain was removed by trypsin was determined as follows. Intact trehalose synthase (180 μg) was transferred to 0.5 ml of 25 mM HEPES pH 7.0 containing 2 mM MgCl₂, 1 mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol and 0.2M NaCl using a Centricon 30 tube, and then treated with 11 μg trypsin at 25° C. The standard Tre6 synthase activity did not decrease during the trypsin treatment, whereas Tre6P synthase activity measured in the absence of F6P and presence of 10 mM phosphate increased from 26% to 73% of the standard activity during the first 30 min of treatment. After 68 min treatment, when SDS-PAGE analysis showed the complete disappearance of the 123 and 99 kDa bands and appearance of a doublet with apparent molecular mass about 85 kDa (the components differing by about 1.5 kDa), the mixture was centrifuged through a Centricon 30 tube to separate the tryptic peptides from the core enzyme. The retentate was then boiled in 0.5% SDS and again centrifuged through the Centricon 30 tube. The combined filtrates were diluted to 0.1% SDS and incubated for 18 h at 25° C. with 4% by weight of endoproteinase Glu-C (Boehringer). The peptides were then separated by HPLC using a DEAE pre-column and sequenced as described in Example 3.

Twenty sequences were obtained (Seq ID NOs 58 to 77 in Table 6). Fifteen of these were found in the N-terminal 325 amino acids coded by TSL1. One (peptide 1407, recovered at less than half the yield of the others) was amino acids 1089-1093, i.e., 5 amino acids from the C-terminus of the protein coded by TSL1. This peptide is presumably derived by endoproteinase Glu-C cleavage of the tryptic peptide starting after Lys 1079. Both the 86 and 93 kDa long chain fragments in the truncated trehalose synthase purified by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! are disclosed in Example 3 to contain a peptide (1483b & 1484b) derived from Ala1064 to Lys1079, confirming that the truncated polypeptides extend at least this close to the C-terminus of the full length 123 kDa chain. The N-terminal peptide furthest from the N-terminus was peptide 1443, obtained by cleavage after Arg 335. Thus, the truncated long chain extends from Ser 336 to Lys 1079 or Asp 1098, and is predicted to have a molecular mass of 87.3 or 86.2 kDa. The SDS-PAGE analysis of trypsin-treated enzyme suggests both of these truncated chains are formed, and because the Tre6P synthase activity in the presence of F6P changes little during the trypsin treatment, the two truncated chains probably have similar activities.

Of the remaining four peptides in Table 5, two (1419b and 1437b) are still unidentified, but may originate from the 99 kDa polypeptide, whereas two (1442 and 1451) clearly originate from that polypeptide. Thus, peptide 1442 is identical to peptide 1307a of Table 4, and the first 5 amino acids of peptide 1451 are identical to peptide 1297a (Table 4).

These results disclose that removal of the N-terminal 325 amino acids of the long chain, with or without removal of the C-terminal 19 amino acids, results in a trehalose synthase that is relatively insensitive to inhibition by phosphate, and does not require F6P for full activity. Analysis of the secondary structure of the long chain according to Garnier et al (1978) Journal of Molecular Biology, 120, 97-120! suggests that whereas the C-terminal 700 amino acids are likely to be in alpha-helices or beta-sheets, the N-terminal 360 amino acid portion of the protein is relatively devoid of such structures. Taken together, these data suggest that the N-terminal 330 or so amino acids comprise a distinct domain, that confers regulatory properties upon the Tre6P synthase activity of trehalose synthase, including sensitivity to inhibition by phosphate and a requirement for F6P to express full catalytic activity. Thus, the TSL1 gene product must also be involved in Tre6P synthase activity.

Table 6 Peptides released from intact trehalose synthase during activation by limited treatment with trypsin.

When two sequences were obtained from the same HPLC peak, they are shown as a and b sequences, assigned according to the sequences predicted from the TSL1 gene. Tentative identifications from the amino acid sequencer are shown by one letter codes and double queries; unidentified residues Xaa. (In the Sequence Listings also tentative identifications are indicated as Xaa). The location of each amino acid sequence in the long (123 kDa) chain of trehalose synthase in FIG. 4b is shown below the sequence.

    __________________________________________________________________________     1400                                                                               Leu--Leu--Val--His--Ser--Leu--Leu--Asn--Asn--Thr--Ser--Gln--Thr--Ser--         5                                                                              Leu--Glu--Gly--Pro--Asn                                                        (SEQ ID NO:58) (181-200)                                                   1401                                                                               Ser--Ser--Thr--Thr--Asn--Thr--Ala--Thr--Leu--Xaa--Xaa--Leu--Val--Ser--         .                                                                              Ser--Xaa--Ile--Phe--Met--Glu                                                   (SEQ ID NO:59) (84-104)                                                    1406                                                                               Ala--G??--Asn--Arg--Pro--Thr--Ser--Ala--Ala--Thr--Ser--Leu--Val--Asn--         8                                                                              Arg                                                                            (SEQ ID NO:60) (210-24)                                                    1407                                                                               Xaa--Phe--Thr--Ile--Ile--S??                                                   (SEQ ID NO:61) (1088-93)                                                   1408                                                                               Asn--Leu--Thr--Ala--Asn--Ala--Thr--Thr--Ser--His--Thr--Pro--Thr--Ser--         1                                                                              Lys                                                                            (SEQ ID NO:62) (105-19)                                                    1409                                                                               Phe--G??--G??--Tyr--Ser--Asn--Lys                                              (SEQ ID NO:63) (319-25)                                                    1416                                                                               S??--Pro--S??--Ala--Phe--Asn--R??                                              (SEQ ID NO:64) (77-83)                                                     1417a                                                                              Ile--Ala--Ser--Pro--Ile--Gln--T??--Glu                                         (SEQ ID NO:65) (145-52)                                                    1417b                                                                              Gln--Arg--Pro--Leu--Leu--Ala--Lys                                              (SEQ ID NO:66) (257-63)                                                    1418                                                                               Phe--Phe--Ser--Pro--Ser--Ser--Asn--Ile--Pro--Thr--Asp--Arg                     (SEQ ID NO:67) (133-44)                                                    1419a                                                                              Ala--Leu--Ser--Asn--Asn--Ile--Ser--Gln--Glu                                    (SEQ ID NO:68) (47-55)                                                     1419b                                                                              A??--L??--S??--Tyr--Thr--Pro                                                   (SEQ ID NO:69) (not found)                                                 1420                                                                               Ile--Ala--Ser--Pro--Ile--Gln--Gln--Gln--Gln--Gln--Asp--Pro--Thr--Ala--         N                                                                              Asn--Leu                                                                       (SEQ ID NO:70) (159-74)                                                    1437a                                                                              Thr--Met--Leu--Lys--Pro--Arg                                                   (SEQ ID NO:71) (120-25)                                                    1437b                                                                              Ile--Ile--Glu--Asp--Glu--Ala                                                   (SEQ ID NO:72) ((not found)                                                1438                                                                               Ile--Thr--Pro--His--Leu--Thr--Ala--Ser--Ala--Ala--Lys                          (SEQ ID NO:73) (246-56)                                                    1439                                                                               Ser--Leu--Val--Ala--Pro--Ala--Pro--Glu                                         (SEQ ID NO:74) (56-63)                                                     1442                                                                               Lys--Pro--Gln--Asp--Leu--Asp--Asp--Asp--Pro--Leu--Tyr--Leu                     (SEQ ID NO:75) (from 99 kDa)                                               1443                                                                               Lys--Tyr--Ala--Leu--Leu--Arg                                                   (SEQ ID NO:76) (330-35)                                                    1451                                                                               Gln--Leu--Gly--Asn--Tyr--G??--Phe--Tyr--Pro--Val--Tyr                          (SEQ ID NO:77) ((from 99 kDa)                                              __________________________________________________________________________

Example 11

Identification of the TPS activator as phosphoglucoisomerase

TPS activator was transferred to 0.1M Tris/HCl pH 9.0 above a PM10 membrane in an Amicon cell. A 300 μl sample (34 μg) was digested for 20 h at 37° C. by 0.8 μg of lysylendo-peptidase C (Wako). Peptides were separated by HPLC and sequenced as described in Example 3. All five sequences obtained and disclosed in Table 7 are identical to sequences found in yeast phosphoglucoisomerase (PGI).

                  TABLE 7                                                          ______________________________________                                         Peptide sequences from TPS activator                                           TPS-Activator Peptide                                                                              PGI Residues                                               ______________________________________                                         TA1156     TFTNYDGSK    51-59                                                             (SEQ ID NO:39)                                                      TA1158     TGNDPSHIAK   241-251                                                           (SEQ ID NO:40)                                                      TA1159     IYESQGK      24-30                                                             (SEQ ID NO:41)                                                      TA1160     AEGATGGLVPHK 456-467                                                           (SEQ ID NO:42)                                                      TA1161     LATELPAXSK   11-19                                                             (SEQ ID NO:43)                                                      ______________________________________                                          The PGI sequences are from TekampOlson, P., et al. (1988) Gene 73,             153-161.                                                                 

The PGI activity of a sample of TPS activator that had been stored for several months at 0° C. was measured in 50 mM HEPES/KOH pH 7.0, 5 mM MgC1₂, 5 mM F6P and 0.4 mg/ml NADP. A specific activity of 190 U/mg was found.

These findings disclose that TPS activator from S. cerevisiae is identical to PGI. Example 12 discloses that F6P is a powerful activator of the Tre6P synthase activity of intact, but not of truncated, trehalose synthase. Because the assay mixtures for Tre6P synthase contain G6P, it is clear that Tre6P synthase activator can activate Tre6P synthase by producing F6P from the substrate G6P. This is a complete explanation for the activation. Thus, at initial concentrations of 6.7 mM G6P and 1.9 mM F6P (i.e. G6P/F6P=3.5, the experimental equilibrium ratio) the rate was independent of TPS activator and equal to that at 9 mM G6P with TPS activator. Previous investigations Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! had to use crude preparations of intact trehalose synthase because pure intact trehalose synthase was not available. Although the effectiveness of TPS activator preparations was reported to vary between different enzyme preparations, under certain circumstances data were obtained that suggested TPS activator might interact stoichiometrically with native trehalose synthase Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.!. The present findings show that this suggestion was completely incorrect. The findings also imply that kinetic data in the literature are confused, because some preparations of so-called "trehalose-6-phosphate synthase" will have contained PGI whereas some may not. With the former preparations, the activator F6P will have been generated from the substrate G6P, but the amount so generated will have depended upon the details of the experimental procedure used.

Example 12

The different kinetic behaviours of intact and truncated trehalose synthase

Truncated trehalose synthase was prepared as described by Londesborough & Vuorio (1991) loc. cit.! and contained the 57 kDa short chain and 86 and 93 kDa fragments of the long chain. Intact trehalose synthase was prepared as in Example 1. Kinetic assays were done at 30° C. as described in General Methods and Materials.

(a) The Tre6P synthase Partial Activity

                  TABLE 8                                                          ______________________________________                                         Inhibition of the Tre6P synthase activities of intact                          and truncated enzyme by phosphate at 5 mM F6P                                  Added Phosphate                                                                             Intact Enzyme                                                                             Truncated Enzyme                                       ______________________________________                                         None         100%       100%                                                   1.3 mM       69%        94%                                                    4.0 mM       14%        83%                                                    ______________________________________                                          The effect of adding K phosphate pH 6.8 to standard assay mixtures (10 mM      G6P, 5 mM UDPG and 5 mM F6P) is shown. For each enzyme, the activity           without phosphate is set at 100%.                                        

The Tre6P synthase activity of intact enzyme was much more sensitive to inhibition by phosphate than was that of the truncated enzyme (Table 8). The results in Table 8 underestimate the difference between the phosphate responses of intact and truncated enzyme, because F6P partially reverses the phosphate inhibition of intact enzyme (see below) but has virtually no effect on truncated enzyme. Table 9 shows the effect of shifting from the salt conditions of the standard assay (40 mM HEPES/KOH pH 6.8, 10 mM MgCl₂) to conditions closer to those of yeast cytosol. In the absence of F6P, the shift caused 67% inhibition of intact enzyme (from 43% to 14% of the standard activity) but only 10% inhibition of truncated enzyme (from 96% to 86%).

Table 9. Effect on the Tre6P synthase activity of intact and truncated enzyme of shifting to more physiological salt conditions

For measurements at "physiological conditions", 1.3 mM K phosphate and 0.1M KCl were added to the standard assay mixtures and the MgCl₂ was decreased from 10 to 2.5 mM.

                  TABLE 9                                                          ______________________________________                                         Effect on the Tre6P synthase activity of intact and truncated                  enzyme of shifting to more physiological salt conditions                               Standard Cond.    Physiological Cond.                                          (5 mM F6P)                                                                             No F6P    5 mM F6P No F6P                                      ______________________________________                                         Intact    100%      43%       72%    14%                                       Truncated 100%      96%       90%    86%                                       ______________________________________                                          For measurement at "physiological conditions", 1.3 mM K phosphate and 0.1      KCl were added to the standard assay mixtures and the MgCl.sub.2 was           decreased from 10 to 2.5 mM.                                             

These results disclose the insensitivity of the Tre6P synthase activity of truncated trehalose synthase to physiological phosphate concentrations and the presence or absence of F6P at a concentration well above the normal value in yeast cytosol (between 0.1 and 1 mM; Lagunas, R. & Gancedo, C. (1983) European Journal of Biochemistry 137, 479-483).

FIG. 16 illustrates the F6P-dependence of the Tre6P synthase activity of intact enzyme at different phosphate concentrations. Double-reciprocal plots of these data (not shown) indicate that at 1.3 mM phosphate, and perhaps at 4 mM phosphate, sufficiently high concentrations of F6P completely overcome the inhibition by phosphate. With no added phosphate, F6P caused a maximum activation of 2.5-fold, with a K_(1/2) of 60 μM. At 1.3 mM phosphate, the maximum activation was at least 20-fold, and the K_(1/2) was 1.4 mM F6P. The slopes of these double-reciprocal plots varied linearly with the square of the phosphate concentration, suggesting that two phosphate binding sites are involved. At 4 mM phosphate, which is still within the probable range of phosphate concentrations in yeast cytosol Lagunas & Gancedo (1983) loc. cit!, inhibition was so severe that even 10 mM F6P permitted only 40% of the activity observed under standard conditions. Thus, expression of a truncated trehalose synthase in yeast would be expected to cause a large increase in the intracellular specific activity of the enzyme.

Fructose-1-phosphate, fructose-1,6-bisphosphate, fructose-2,6-bisphosphate and glucose-1-phosphate were tested at sub-optimal F6P concentrations (1 mM F6P at 1.3 mM phosphate). None caused activation at 5 or 2.5 mM concentrations; instead inhibitions of about 25% occurred, probably due to competition with G6P and F6P.

(b) The Tre6Pase Partial Activity

At phosphate concentrations equal to or less than 1 mM, the progress curves of Tre6Pase reactions catalysed by truncated trehalose synthase accelerated markedly over at least the first 10 min of reaction. This did not happen with intact enzyme. For the initial rates of reaction, intact enzyme was activated by smaller phosphate concentrations than was truncated enzyme (FIG. 17). For truncated enzyme, double-reciprocal plots of the activation (vΔ= the rate with phosphate, v_(pi), minus the rate without phosphate, v_(o)) were linear when 1/vΔ was plotted against 1/ phosphate!, with a K_(1/2) of 3 mM phosphate. For intact enzyme these plots were non-linear, and linear plots resulted when l/ phosphate!² was used (FIG. 18). This, again, suggests that intact enzyme has two strong phosphate binding sites, one of which is lost in the truncated enzyme. For intact enzyme, half maximal activation was obtained at 0.6 mM phosphate.

In the absence of phosphate, F6P did not affect the Tre6Pase activity of intact enzyme. At sub-optimal phosphate concentrations, 5 mM F6P caused modest (20 to 30%) inhibitions of the Tre6Pase activity of both intact and truncated enzymes, and at saturating phosphate concentrations, smaller inhibitions (10 to 15%) were observed (data not shown).

These findings disclose a profound sensitivity of the Tre6P synthase activity of intact trehalose synthase to physiological phosphate and F6P concentrations that is lost by truncation of the 123 kDa long chain to about 85 kDa. The effects of truncation are less marked on the Tre6Pase activities, both enzymes being activated by physiological phosphate concentrations, and neither showing a strong response to F6P. The data suggest that intact enzyme has two strong phosphate binding sites, one of which is located in the region of the 123 kDa long chain removed by truncation. The finding that the 123 kDa long chain could not be recovered from phosphocellulose, disclosed in Example 9 supports this conclusion.

Example 13

Expression of Tre6P synthase activity in Escherichia coli cells transformed with TPS1 and TSL1

E.coli, strain HB101 (ALKO 683) was transformed with the plasmids pALK752 and pALK754 consisting of pBluescript containing TPS1 and TSL1, respectively (see Example 14 and FIGS. 20a and 20c). Transformants ALK03566 and ALK03568 containing, respectively, pALK752 and pALK754 were selected and maintained by growth in the presence of 50 μg/ml of ampicillin. Shake flasks containing Luria Broth with no ampicillin (ALKO 683) or 15 μg/ml ampicillin (ALK03566 and ALK03568) were inoculated with 1 ml of a suspension (A600=1.5) of the appropriate cells and shaken at 250 rpm and 30° C. for 15 h. Cells were harvested (5 min and 3000g), washed twice with water, suspended (1.5 g cells/3.7 ml) in HBMED containing 1 mM PMSF and 10 μg/ml pepstatin A, and broken by two passes through a French press (Aminco) at 15 000 psi. Samples of the homogenates were centrifuged 20 min at 28 000g. Homogenates and supernatants were assayed for Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase at once and the protein contents of the supernatants were determined (Table 10).

                  TABLE 10                                                         ______________________________________                                         Expression of Tre6P synthase activity in E. coli                               transformed with TPS1 and TSL1.                                                Host (ALKO 683) and transformants (ALK03566 containing TPS1 and                ALK03568 containing TSL1) were grown, harvested and broken as                  described in the text. Cell homogenates and supernatants were                  assayed at once for Tre6P synthase (TPS), using the standard                   assay and a blank assay from which G6P and F6P were omitted,                   and for Tre6Pase (TPS). Activities are shown as mU/g fresh                     cells unless stated otherwise.                                                             ALKO 683 ALK03566  ALK03568                                        ______________________________________                                         Cell yield (g/200 ml)                                                                        1.57       1.51      1.56                                        Homogenates                                                                    Standard TPS  361 ± 75                                                                               1065 ± 118                                                                            260 ± 23                                 TPS Blank     363 ± 57                                                                               227 ± 45                                                                              117 ± 77                                 Net TPS        0 ± 20 840 ± 70                                                                              140 ± 50                                 Standard TPP  1130 ± 70                                                                              1110 ± 100                                                                            1190 ± 80                                Supernatants                                                                   Standard TPS  273 ± 73                                                                               699 ± 47                                                                              233 ± 68                                 TPS Blank     263 ± 21                                                                               155 ± 42                                                                              135 ± 9                                  Net TPS        10 ± 50                                                                               540 ± 10                                                                              100 ± 60                                 Net TPS (mU/mg protein)                                                                      0.08       4.50      0.87                                        Standard TPP  1130 ± 100                                                                             910 ± 90                                                                              1020 ± 80                                ______________________________________                                    

Standard and blank Tre6P synthase assays both showed accelerating progress curves and results in Table 10 are mean ± range of 5 min and 10 min assays, which were handled separately to calculate the net Tre6P synthase activity. Essentially all of the standard Tre6P synthase activity measured in the host cells and about half of that in ALK03568 cells was due to a blank reaction (presumably a phospho-diesterase) generating UDP from UDPG in the absence of G6P and F6P. The net Tre6P synthase activity of host cells grown under these conditions was close to zero, whereas cells transformed with TPS1 or TSL1 contained 840 or 140 mU/g fresh cells, most of which (64% and 71%, respectively) was soluble. Compared to the host preparation, the specific activities of the net Tre6P synthase in the 28 000 g supernatants were increased about 50-fold (ALK03566) and 10-fold (ALK03568). There are probably two reasons for the very low Tre6P synthase activity of the host cells: trehalose-6-phosphate synthase of E. coli is induced by high osmotic strength, and although some strains also acquire activity in stationary phase, the enzyme activity itself is strongly activated by higher (0.25M) cation concentrations than in our assay conditions Giaever et al (1988) Journal of Bacteriology 170, 2841-2849!.

No significant change in the Tre6Pase activities was observed. Host cells already contained 1100 mU/g of Tre6Pase measured in 25 mM phosphate (and more than 5 U/g measured in 25 mM Hepes buffer). If transformation with the plasmids would have generated Tre6Pase activity with a Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio the same as in pure trehalose synthase from yeast, then the increments in Tre6Pase (about 250 and 40 mU/g for ALK03566 and ALK03568, respectively) would have been undetectable for ALK03568 and close to the experimental error for ALK03566.

Western analyses (FIG. 19) showed that ALK03566 specifically expressed a 57 kDa band recognized by anti-57K serum and more weakly reacting bands with smaller molecular masses. ALK03568 specifically expressed bands recognized by anti-93K serum at about 60, 36 and 35 kDa (strong), suggesting that extensive degradation of the long chain occurs in ALK03568 or that TSL1 is not correctly transcribed and translated.

These results disclose (1) Tre6P synthase activity can be transferred to heterologous cells by either TPS1 or TSL1, (2) a TPS1 gene product has Tre6P synthase activity and (3) also one or more (degraded) products of TSL1 has Tre6P synthase activity. This latter finding is unexpected, because yeast containing a defective (Example 7) or disrupted (Example 14) TPS1 gene lack Tre6P synthase activity. Possibly ALK03568 accumulates fortuitously degraded proteolytic products of the 123 kDa long chain of trehalose synthase that exhibit Tre6P synthase activity even in the absence of the TPS1 product.

Obviously, transformation with TPS1 (or TSL1) alone can be used to introduce a trehalose synthetic pathway to an organism, such as E. coli HB101, that already has the capacity to generate trehalose from trehalose-6-phosphate, possibly via a non-specific phosphatase.

Example 14

Transformation of Yeast

(1) Assembly of complete genes and truncated versions of TSL1

Plasmids comprising the complete ORFs of TPS1 and TSL1 and a truncated ORF of TSL1 were assembled from appropriate immunopositive clones of the HaeIII and EcoRI libraries used in Examples 4 and 5 to sequence these genes:

(a) The TPS1 gene with its promoter (pALK 752)

A 516 bp fragment was cut from HaeIII clone 7 with restriction enzymes DraI and BstEII (see FIG. 6 for restriction sites). The DraI site marks the beginning of the disclosed TPS1 sequence. This fragment was joined to HaeIII clone 20 after this had been digested with BstEII and ClaI (the ClaI site was in the polylinker) and the ClaI end filled with Klenow fragment. The sequence at the junction at the BstEII site in the religated plasmid (shown in FIG. 20a) was confirmed by sequencing.

(b) The TPS1 gene without its promoter (pALK753)

HaeIII clone 21 was cut with the restriction enzyme Tth111I. To this site the following linker (SEQ ID NO:84, synthesized with the ABI DNA Synthesizer) was added:

5'-CGGGAAGACA TAGAACTATG ACTACGGATA ACGCTAAGGC GCAACTGACC -3'

3'-GCCCTTCTGT ATCTTGATAC TGATGCCTAT TGCGATTCCG CGTTGACTGG -5'

This includes nucleotides -13 to +33 of TPS1 (see FIG. 4) but, when correctly orientated, introduces a SmaI site at nucleotide -16 from the ATG start site. The plasmid (shown in FIG. 20b) can be used to release with SmaI the ORF of the TPS1 gene and about 200 bp of its terminator for further constructions (e.g. expression vectors containing a new promoter).

(c) The TSL1 gene with its promoter (pALK754)

EcoRI clone 10 was cut with the restriction enzymes MluI and NdeI, and the resulting 4.4 kb fragment was religated into the pBluescript SmaI site. This procedure destroyed all these sites, so that these restriction enzymes cannot be used in further manipulations. The plasmid is shown in FIG. 20c.

(d) The TSL1 gene without its promoter (pALK757)

Primers for the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were made against the beginning of the TSL1 gene and the sequence at +318. PCR (Techne PHC-2 Heat/Cool Dri-Block®) was used to synthesize (at 55° C.) a 325 bp fragment, which had at one end a SpeI site and close to the other end a BsmI site. This fragment was digested with BsmI and can be ligated to pALK754 after cutting the latter with SpeI (at the site in the pBluescript polylinker) and BsmI and filling the SpeI site with Klenow fragment. For further manipulations, the gene can be isolated by cutting the resulting plasmid with SpeI and, for example, ClaI.

(e) A truncated TSL1 gene

A truncated version of TSL1 can be made by cutting pALK754 with StuI and joining the following linker (SEQ ID NO:85) to this site:

5'-GGGCCCAACA ACACAATGGT TACCCCGAAA TCGAGGGCGG GCAACAGG -3'

3'-CCCGGGTTGT TGTGTTACCA ATGGGGCTTT AGCTCCCGCC CGTTGTCC -5'

The linker recreates the StuI site and creates a new ATG start codon at+627 in frame with the coding sequence. Thus, this version of the gene encodes a truncated 123 kDa long chain lacking the first 209 amino acids. It was disclosed in Example 10 that removal of the first 325 or so amino acids proceeds without loss of catalytic activity, but releases trehalose synthase from strong inhibition by phosphate and the requirement for F6P. Hence, this construction can encode a truncated 123 kDa polypeptide leading to a trehalose synthase with increased activity at physiological phosphate and F6P concentrations. A new SmaI site is included in the linker. The sequence flanking the new ATG on the 5'-side resembles the original ATG flanking sequence and the surrounding nucleotides are in accordance with the sequences known to occur most frequently at positions -7 to +4.

(2) Disruption mutants.

(a) Disruption of TPS1

The TPS1 gene was disrupted to confirm that it is an essential gene in trehalose synthesis. The one-step gene disruption method Rothstein, R. J. (1983) Methods in Enzymology 101, 202-211)! was used as follows:

Plasmid pALK752 was cut with XcmI. A blunted SalI-XhoI fragment containing the LEU2 gene from plasmid yEp13 Broach, J et al (1979) Gene 8, 121-133! was ligated to the blunted XcmI site. The resulting plasmid was cut with NsiI and PvuI and the reaction mixture was run through a 0.8% low-melting point agarose gel. A band of 4 kb was excised from the gel and purified. S. cerevisiae strain S150-2B was transformed (using the one-step alkali-cation method of Chen et al (1992) Current Genetics 21, 83-84!) with the 4 kb DNA fragment containing the TPS1 gene interrupted by the LEU2 gene. Leu⁺ transformants were selected on minimal plates lacking leucine and containing glucose or galactose, and the clones obtained were then grown on YPD or YP/2% galactose, respectively.

As expected the phenotype of the disruptants resembled the fdp1 and cif1 phenotypes (see Example 2). Only one transformant (ALK03569) was isolated on glucose and the several transformants isolated on galactose were unable to grow on glucose. The glucose transformant and the tested galactose transformant (ALK03570) did not accumulate trehalose in stationary phase (≦0.2% of dry wt.), lacked Tre6P synthase and had low Tre6Pase activity (≦10% of wild type). The 57 kDa band could not be seen on Western blots. Southern analysis (FIG. 21) showed that the TPS1 gene had been disrupted by a LEU2 gene, but the TSL1 gene was intact.

Another mutant, WDC-3A (see Table 1) with a disrupted TPS1 gene was obtained from the laboratory of Dr. C. Gancedo (Instituto de Investigaciones Biomedicas, CSIC, Madrid, Spain) as a cif1::HIS3 disruptant. This mutant was easier to transform than were the tps1::LEU2 disruptants, and so it was used to confirm that the TPS1 gene on a plasmid can confer Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities, trehalose accumulation and improved stress resistance. WDC-3A was transformed with the plasmid pMB4 (see Table 1; the plasmid contains an intact CIF1 ≡TPS1 gene and a selectable URA3 marker) and transformants selected in the absence of uracil. Western analyses (not shown) indicated that the transformants has acquired the 57 kDa band absent from WDC-3A. The parent and a transformant were grown in parallel in minimal medium containing 2% galactose and (transformant) no uracil or (parent) no uracil. Duplicate cultures of each strain were harvested in early stationary phase after 28 h growth samples taken for studies of stress resistance, and the rest used for trehalose and enzyme assays (Table 11).

                  TABLE 11                                                         ______________________________________                                         Analysis of WDC-3A and its DMB14 transformant.                                 Duplicate cultures were analyzed separately for trehalose and                  combined for enzyme assays. Tre6P synthase (TPS) activities                    were corrected for UDPGase activity in the absence of G6P and                  F6P.                                                                                           WDC-3A   pMB14 (TPS1)                                                          (tps1: :HIS3)                                                                           Transformant                                          ______________________________________                                         Cell mass (g/100 ml medium)                                                                      2.6        2.8                                               Trehalose (% of dry wt.)                                                                         0.84, 0.81 2.9, 3.0                                          Whole homogenates                                                              Tre6pase (U/g fresh yeast)                                                                       0.02       0.84                                              TPS (U/g fresh yeast)                                                                            0.84 ± 0.37                                                                            17.9 ± 3.5                                     28,000 g supernatants                                                          Tre6pase (U/g fresh yeast)                                                                       0.01       0.67                                              TPS (U/G fresh yeast)                                                                            0.22 ± 0.20                                                                            14.6 ± 3.3                                     TPS (mU/mg protein)                                                                              4.0        223                                               ______________________________________                                    

These results disclose that introduction of TPS1 on a plasmid can restore both Tre6P synthase and Tre6Pase activities and increase the trehalose content of an organism. The Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratio (5%) is much lower than that (about 35%) of purified trehalose synthase whereas the baker' yeast used in Example 1 and the X2180 used in Example 2 both have Tre6P phosphatase/synthase ratios in their homogenates close to that of pure enzyme. This suggests that transformation with TPS1 in pMB14 increases Tre6Pase only up to a limit set by the genetic background of the host (probably the amounts of 99 and 123 kDa polypeptides present) but causes a larger increase in Tre6P synthase due to activity associated also with 57 kDa chains not incorporated into the trehalose synthase complex.

Samples of the transformant and host were frozen in water at 1 μg yeast/ml and kept for 5 days at -20° C. The viability was then tested on plates containing YP/2% galactose. After freezing stress, 1.0±0.1% of the transformants and ≦0.05% of the host cells were viable. These results disclose that transformation of an organism with TPS1 can increase its resistance to freezing-stress.

(b) Disruption of TSL1

Alko provided the laboratory of Johan Thevelein (Lab. voor Moleculaire Celbiologie, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Kardinaal Mercierlaan 92, B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee, Belgium) with the TSL1 gene under an agreement dated Sep. 22nd 1992 that recognized this gene as Alko's intellectual property. Standard PCR procedures were used to make an exact deletion of the TSL1 coding sequence and introduce the URA3 gene. A search of the EMBL data base revealed a DNA sequence (accession number M88172) that encodes a polypeptide with 55% identity to the TSL1 product. Because this gene (herein called TPS3) may have a similar function as TSL1, an exact deletion of its ORF was also made and the LEU2 gene introduced by standard PCR procedures. These constructs were used to convert the yeast strain RH144-3A (TSL1 TPS3 ura2 leu2) to the double deletant (tsl1::URA3 tps3::LEU2; called ALK03702), which was then analyzed by the present inventors. Results are shown in Table 12 .

                  TABLE 12                                                         ______________________________________                                         Increased trehalose levels in yeast with deleted TSL1                          and TPS3 genes.                                                                RH 144-3A and the tsl1Δ/tps3Δ double deletion mutant were          grown                                                                          for 47 h at 30° C. in YP/2 % glucose and harvested. Duplicate           samples were assayed for trehalose. Cells were broken and                      enzyme activities determined in homogenates as described above                 but at the indicated phosphate (Pi) concentrations (blanks for                 Tre6P synthase were run with no G6P or F6P present)                                           Control Yeast                                                                            Double deletant                                       ______________________________________                                         Cell mass (mg/ml)                                                                               23.7        23.2                                              Trehalose (% of dw)                                                                             8.0 ± 0.1                                                                               10.7 ± 0.2                                     Tre6P Synthase   12.7        3.8                                               Tre6P Synthase at 4 mM Pi                                                                       6.8         3.4                                               Tre6Pase 25 mM Pi                                                                               3.7         1.9                                               Tre6Pase 2.5 mM Pi                                                                              3.6         2.2                                               Tre6Pase no PI   0.6         2.0                                               ______________________________________                                    

These data disclose a method for increasing the trehalose content of baker's yeast by deleting the genes TSL1 and TPS3.

Paradoxically, the standard activities of Tre6P synthase and phosphatase were both lower in the double deletant than in the control yeast, which is consistent with the 123 kDa subunit stabilizing the trehalose synthase complex. However, the synthase was less inhibited by physiological levels of phosphate whereas the phosphatase had lost its requirement for phosphate, which is consistent with the regulatory properties of the 123 kDa subunit disclosed in, especially, Examples 10 and 12. The increased trehalose content of the deletant appears to result from the more efficient activity in vivo of a smaller amount of enzyme. In one embodiment of this invention, the TSL1 gene is replaced by a truncated TSL1, so that favourable regulatory properties are obtained without sacrificing enzyme stability.

(3) Strategies for transformatione

Laboratory strains of S. cerevisiae bearing auxotrophic markers such as his3, leu2, lys 2, trp1 and ura3 can be easily transformed with the trehalose synthase genes by essentially the same methods described for transformation of tps1 disruptants with TPS1. Versions of the genes in which the natural promoters and terminators are intact or have been replaced by (stronger and regulatable) promoters and terminators from other yeast genes can be used. For example, PGKI pMA91; Mellor et al (1983) Gene 24, 1-14!, ADC1 pAAH5; Ammerer (1983) Methods in Enzymology 101, 192-201! and MEL1 pALK3537, pALK41, etc., Suominen, P. L. (1988) Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki! systems have been used to increase the expression levels of genes in S. cerevisiae and other yeast. The MEL1 system has the advantage that the expression can be regulated, being repressed by glucose and induced by galactose. The use of promoters that can be regulated, for example by adding substances to the growth medium or by changing the temperature, has been described see, e.g., Mylin et al. (1990) Methods in Enzymology 185, 297-308; Sledziewski et al. (1990) Methods in Enzymology 185, 351-366!. Standard vectors are available episomal and integrating and centromere yeast plasmids are reviewed by Rose & Broach (1990) Methods in Enzymology 185, 234-279 and Stearns, T., Ma, H & Botstein, D. (1990) Methods in Enzymology 185, 280-291! that incorporate auxotrophic markers such as HIS3, LEU2, TRP1 and URA3, which can be used to select the transformants. Vectors based on these principles, but suited to a particular task can be constructed by a person familiar with the art.

The basic strategy is to leave the yeast with an intact version of its natural genes for trehalose synthase and introduce, either on episomes or integrated into a yeast chromosome, extra copies of the genes. This avoids problems that can be foreseen if all copies of the genes are put under tight control (such as the defects in sugar catabolism expected if TPS1 is not properly expressed; see Example 7.) Transformed yeast bearing additional copies of the genes with their natural promoters may accumulate enough trehalose to exhibit the desired improvement in stability. They may also cycle enough glucose units through trehalose during fermentative conditions to generate an ATPase that accelerates fermentation and increases the yield of ethanol on glucose. Alternatively, the promoters of one or more genes can be changed to promoters that are more active under fermentative conditions. In another aspect of the invention, copies of the ORFs of the genes can be inserted into expression vectors equipped with powerful promoters (that may be regulatable) to cause still larger increases in trehalose. This can be particularly useful for the production of trehalose.

Transforming yeast with two or all three genes can be achieved in several ways. The most obvious procedure is to use different auxotrophic markers and introduce the genes sequentially. Another method is to construct a YIp containing URA3 and a modified version of, say, TSL1 with a stronger promoter but still containing a region of homology upstream of this promoter. After directed integration of this plasmid to the chromosomal ura3 site and selection of URA+transformants, mutants in which the URA3 has again been excised (with a frequency of about 1×10⁻⁴) can be selected by growth on media containing 5-fluoroorotic acid see Stearns et al. (1990) loc. cit.!. Some of the selected cells would contain a new version of the gene, with the stronger promoter and can again be transformed, this time with, say, a modified TPS1 gene. The resultant transformants will contain one copy of TSL1 driven by the new promoter, and two copies of TPS1, one of which is still under the control of its natural promoter. Thirdly, a YIp containing two or all three genes can be used to introduce the genes in a single step.

The construction of a vector to transform yeast with the coding regions of TPS1 and TSL2 under the control of the constitutive ADC1 promoter exemplifies some of these strategies. A 2.8 kB XbaI-SacI fragment of TSL2 (the XbaI is at +149 and the SacI is in the polylinker) was cut from the YCplac111/TPS2 plasmid and ligated into pBluescript to make pALK727. A primer identical to the TSL2 sequence from -20 to +6 except that it contained a XhoI site at -10 and an adenine at -3 (the preferred nucleotide in this position for high expression in yeast) and another primer identical to +157 to +176 were synthesized and used to make a PCR product comprising the start of TSL2 but with a XhoI site at -10. The XhoI-XbaI fragment was cut from this product and ligated into the XbaI site of pALK727. The XhoI-SacI fragment of the resulting plasmid was ligated into the HindIII site between the ADC1 promoter and terminator of pAAH5 to give pALK729. This plasmid can be used to transform leu⁻ yeast to introduce the TSL2 gene encoding the Tre6Pase subunit under a constitutive promoter.

The 1.7 kB SmaI fragment of pALK753 containing the TPS1 ORF and about 15 upstream bases was similarly ligated into the HindIII site of pAAH5 to give pALK731. A 3.5 kB BamI fragment of pALK731 containing TPS1 between the ADC1 promoter and terminator was then ligated into the unique StuI site of pALK729 to make pALK732, which contains genes for both Tre6P synthase and phosphatase subunits driven by ADC1 promoters. EcoRI restriction analysis was used to distinguish the product (pALK732/21: 7.0, 5.5, 5.0 and 1.0 kB fragments) with TPS1 and TSL2 in opposite orientation from that (pALK732/22: 7.0, 5.5, 3.5 and 2.5 kB fragments) where they have the same orientation.

RH144 and S150 strains of Sacch. cerevisiae were transformed with pALK732. Table 13 shows that the RH144 transformants contained more trehalose during fermentation and also in the stationary phase. The data underestimate the effect of pALK732 on trehalose levels during fermentation because the transformants were harvested earlier (at a residual glucose of 1%) when less trehalose is expected than in the untransformed yeast (harvested at 0.6% glucose).

                  TABLE 13                                                         ______________________________________                                         Increased trehalose levels in yeast transformed with                           pALK732.                                                                       RH144 was grown on a minimal medium containing all essential                   amino acids and 2% glucose. The transformants were grown on                    the same medium lacking leucine.                                                           Untransformed                                                                           pALK732/21                                                                               pALK732/22                                      ______________________________________                                         During fermentation                                                            Residual glucose (%)                                                                         0.61       1.05      0.97                                        Trehalose (μg/mg wet wt.)                                                                 0.86       3.1       3.0                                         Stationary cells                                                               Trehalose (μg/mg wet wt.)                                                                 2.2        10.1      12.0                                        ______________________________________                                    

FIG. 22 shows that when the yeast was grown in 5 ml lots of the media described in Table 13 in screw-capped tubes in a temperature gradient block, S150 yeast transformed with pALK732/21 grew to a higher cell density at 38° C. than did the untransformed yeast. Under these conditions the growth is essentially fermentative. The results disclose that transformation of yeast with TPS1 and TSL2 under ADC1 promoters increases the temperature tolerance during fermentative growth.

The 2μ origin of replication in pALK732 can be destroyed by digestion with NsiI, which excises an about 1 kB fragment, leaving the rest of the plasmid functional. The resulting plasmid contains a unique StuI site within the TPS1 coding sequence, and so can be linearized with StuI and used for targetted integration at the resident TPS1 gene.

These examples illustrate how the genes encoding trehalose synthase subunits can be manipulated, their promoters changed, different genes carried in the same vector and used to transform yeast using self-replicating plasmids or by integration into the genome. Other approaches could be used and are obvious to a person skilled in the art.

Various methods to transform industrial, polyploid yeast, which lack auxotrophic markers have been described in the literature. Earlier methods have been reviewed by Knowles, J. K. C. & Tubb, R. S. (1987) E.B.C. symposium on brewer's yeast, Helsinki, 1986. Monograph XII 169-185! and include the use of marker genes that confer resistance to antibiotics, methylglyoxal, copper, cinnamic acid and other compounds. These markers facilitate selection of transformants. Some of the marker genes are themselves of yeast origin, and so are preferred for acceptability reasons. When suitable modifications and combinations of the genes have been identified by using laboratory yeast, they may be transferred to industrial yeast using these procedures or others described in the literature, such as co-transformation with pALK2 and pALK7 Suominen, P. I. (1988) loc. cit.!. These plasmids contain a readily selectable MEL1 marker gene on a 2 μ-based plasmid that can readily be cured, thus facilitating sequential transformation with more than one gene if it is not practicable to introduce the modified genes in one step using this co-transformation procedure.

The plasmid pALK733 is an example of a vector suitable for industrial yeast. This was constructed by ligating a 2.8 kB BamI-SalI fragment containing the MelI gene into the XhoI site of pALK732. It thus contains TPS1 and TSL2 with ADC1 promoters and the Mel1 gene for selection in most ordinary industrial strains of baker's and distiller's yeasts. Based on the results disclosed above in Tables 12 and 13, transformation of industrial strains with this plasmid is expected to cause trehalose production during the fermentative stage and also to increase stationary phase trehalose levels, without the necessity of simultaneously introducing TSL1. However, for certain applications, cotransformation with a complete or truncated TSL1 gene is envisaged to cause further improvements.

Example 15

Trehalose production by plants transformed with the TPS1 gene under the ATS1A promoter

The plants used were Nicotiana tabacum cv. SR1 and Arabidopsis thaliana L. Heynh. ecotype C-24.

To construct a chimeric ATS1A-TPS1 gene the ATS1A promoter fragment, lacking the sequence for the transit peptide, was amplified by PCR from the plasmid pGSFR401. Synthetic olignucleotide primers were used to create an EcoRI site at the 5' end and an XbaI site at the 3' end of the amplified fragment. The PCR amplification product was digested with the appropriate restriction enzymes and, following purification on an agarose gel, ligated into an EcoRI and MluI digested pUC19 plasmid. The yeast TPS1 gene was amplified from the plasmid pALK752 described above. The resulting fragment contained 5' MluI and 3' XbaI sites. After digestion and purification the fragment was ligated behind the pATS1A in pUC19. A fragment with the promoter-TPS1 construct was cut out with EcoRI and XbaI and then inserted into a pBluescriptII SK⁺ (Stratagene) derived plasmid carrying the 3' end of the T-DNA gene G7 including its polyadenylation signal and the T-DNA right border. Finally, the entire chimeric gene was inserted as an EcoRI-SacI fragment into the plant transformation vector pDE1001 (Denecke et al. 1992! EMBO J. 11, 2345-2355) containing the chimeric kanamycin resistance gene pNOS-NEO-3' OCS as a selective marker. This resulted in the plasmid pKOH51 carrying the chimeric pATS1A-TPS1-3'G7 gene (FIG. 23). Constructions were cloned into the bacterial strain, E. coli DH5α by transformation, and then transferred by electroporation (Dower et al. 1988! Nucl. Acids Res. 16, 6127-6145) to Agrobacterium tumefaciens (C58C1rif®) containing the non-oncogenic Ti plasmid pGV2260 (Deblare et al. 1985! Nucl. Acids Res. 13, 2777-2778).

Growth of plant material

For axenic growth, sterilised explants from Nicotiana tabacum (SR1) were planted in glass jars containing solidified MS (Murashige & Skoog 1962! Physiol. Plant 15, 473-497) medium supplemented with 2% sucrose (MS-2). These jars were then placed in a controlled growth environment in a culture chamber where plants were allowed to grow at 22° C. with a 16 h photoperiod. Explants were regularly transferred to new jars and MS-2 medium for a continuous growth of axenic material. Greenhouse plants were grown in soil in pots and watered daily. Transformed A. thaliana plants were first grown axenically in baby-food jars in a controlled environment as described for tobacco above, but were later transferred to soil in pots in the greenhouse for seed production. Seeds from the primary transformants were either directly planted in soil for new seed production or surface sterilized and grown axenically in 24-well tissue culture plates for molecular analysis.

Plant transformation

Tobacco and A. thaliana were both transformed according to the following protocol, with starting material being excised leaves of tobacco and roots of A. thaliana. The transformation and tissue culture were essentially as described by Valvekens et al ( 1988! Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 85, 5536-5540) with the following modifications. Isolated roots or leaves were preincubated on solidified callus-inducing medium (CIM) for 4 days, roots were cut into small segments (1-2 mm) and leaves were cut into larger pieces (10-20 mm) and transferred into 20 ml liquid CIM. 3',5'-Dimethoxy-4' hydroxyacetophenone was added (0.2 mg/l) prior to Agrobacterium (C58clnith) infection. The bacteria used for infection were propagated overnight in YEB medium (Vervliet et al. 1975! J. Gen. Virol. 26, 33-48) containing appropriate antibiotics at 28° C., and collected by centrifugation. The bacterial pellet was then resuspended in 10 mM MgSO4, added to the plant tissue and mixed gently for about 15 min. Excess liquid was poured off and the roots blotted on sterile filter paper. After co-cultivation for 2 days on solid CIM, the plant tissue was rinsed 3-4 times with liquid CIM to wash off bacteria, and transferred to selective shoot induction medium (SIM). After 7 days of growth, explants with differentiated morphogenic sectors were transferred to fresh SIM.

Tobacco transformants containing the yeast gene (TPS1) for the Tre6P synthase subunit under the ATS1A promoter were grown up both in sterile, "in vitro", conditions and in a greenhouse. Mature plants had no obvious phenotype compared to the untransformed controls or controls transformed with the vector pDE1001 (lacking TPS1). Leaves were collected at 0900 h, frozen and stored at or below -70° C. prior to analysis.

FIG. 24 shows that the transgenic plants expressing the chimeric ATS1A-TPS1 gene produce a 56 kDa polypeptide recognized by antiserum prepared against the 56 kDa subunit of yeast trehalose synthase. Table 14 summarizes the trehalose contents of the leaves.

                  TABLE 14                                                         ______________________________________                                         Trehalose contents of TPS1-transformants of tobacco                                                        Trehalose                                          Tobacco Plant Special Treatment                                                                            (mg/g fresh leaf)                                  ______________________________________                                         In vitro plants                                                                Untransformed SR1                                                                            --            ≦0.002                                      pDE1001 Control                                                                              --            ≦0.002                                      Transformant 1                                                                               --            0.02                                               Transformant 3                                                                               --            0.009                                              Transformant 4                                                                               --            0.067                                              Transformant 8                                                                               --            0.075                                              Transformant 8                                                                               Ethanol extraction                                                                           0.055                                                            instead of water                                                 Greenhouse plants                                                              pDE1001 Control                                                                              --            ≦0.002                                      Transformant 1                                                                               --            0.16                                               Transformant 4                                                                               --            0.16                                               Transformant 4                                                                               Alkaline phosphatase.sup.a                                                                   0.13                                               Transformant 5                                                                               --            0.052                                              Transformant 6                                                                               --            0.044                                              Transformant 8                                                                               --            0.039                                              Transformant 8                                                                               Specific trehalase                                                                           0.021                                              Transformant 19                                                                              --            0.053                                              Transformant 19                                                                              Alkaline phosphatase.sup.a                                                                   0.060                                              Transformant 19                                                                              Specific trehalase                                                                           0.016                                              Transformant 25                                                                              --            0.036                                              Transformant 26                                                                              --            0.11                                               ______________________________________                                          .sup.a The extract was treated with alkaline phosphatase under conditions      such that carrier  .sup.14 C! trehalose 6phosphate was dephosphorylated. 

These results disclose that the yeast TPS1 gene is efficiently expressed in tobacco when its promoter is replaced by the ATS1A promoter. The specific signal observed on Western blots has the correct molecular weight. The strongest signals (e.g., that from Transformant 4 grown in vitro) were only slightly weaker per unit of protein applied to the gel than the signals obtained from stationary phase yeast. Expression of TPS1 was accompanied by the appearance of trehalose in the leaf tissue, identified both by its HPLC behaviour and by the fact that it was degraded by a highly specific trehalase (see also FIG. 25). Different transformants expressed the TPS1 product to different levels for reasons that have not yet been established, and (with the apparent exception of Transformant 8) the amount of trehalose found in the leaves roughly correlated with the strength of the 56 kDa signal in the Westerns (compare FIG. 24 with Table 14). Although these transformants did not carry a gene encoding a microbial trehalose-6-phosphatase, no evidence was found that the plants accumulated more trehalose-6-phosphate than trehalose.

The results also disclose that tobacco plants expressing TPS1 under the ATS1A promoter and accumulating trehalose in their green tissues during daylight are healthy and normal in appearance.

On a protein basis, the trehalose contents of the best transformants in Table 14 (e.g.≧16 mg/g protein for Transformant 4) are already at least 20% of the level at which a clear improvement in thermotolerance is observed in yeast (De Virgilio et al 1990! FEBS Letters 273, 107-110).

Some TPS1-transformants and controls were assayed for Tre6P synthase activity. Results are shown in Table 15.

Results in Table 15 are means ± the extreme range from duplicate zero and 15 or 30 min assays. For the controls, Tre6P synthase activity did not differ from zero. For Transformant 4, an acid- and alkali-stable carbohydrate accumulated in the presence of UDPG and glucose 6-phosphate. This accumulation required glucose 6-phosphate, but not fructose 6-phosphate and was prevented when UDPG was replaced by ADPG. The accumulated carbohydrate is presumably trehalose or trehalose 6-phosphate, because other possible products are destroyed by the hydrolyses. HPLC analysis showed it was not trehalose. Thus, trehalose 6-phosphate is synthesized by extracts of Transformant 4 much faster than it is converted to trehalose. This shows that the overall rate of trehalose synthesis in the leaves will be increased by cotransformation with TSL2, which encodes the Tre6Pase subunit.

The Tre6P synthase activity of yeast extracts found by the method used in Table 15 agreed with that found by measuring the appearance of UDP as described by Londesborough & Vuorio ( 1991! J. Gen. Microbiol. 137, 323-330). Furthermore, yeast extracts measured in the presence of extracts of tobacco plants were not inhibited. Thus, the absence of activity in the control plants in Table 15 is not due to interference by some factor present in tobacco extracts.

                  TABLE 15                                                         ______________________________________                                         Tre6P synthase activity of TPS1-transformed and control tobacco                leaves (All results are with plants grown in vitro).                                                    Tre6P Synthase Activity                                                        (mU/g fresh leaf)                                     Transformant Assay Mixture                                                                              15 min    30 min                                      ______________________________________                                         Untransformed Control                                                                       Complete    3 ∓ 47 3 ∓ 21                                   PDE1001 Control                                                                             Complete    22 ∓ 35                                                                               7 ∓ 8                                    Transformant 4, Expt. 1                                                                     Complete    259 ∓ 147                                                                             60 ∓ 6                                   Transformant 4, Expt. 2                                                                     Complete    128 ∓ 39                                                                              155 ∓ 22                                              Less Glu6P  12 ∓ 19                                                                               -1 ∓ 12                                               Less Fru6P  153 ∓ 10                                                                              144 ∓ 3                                               ADPG instead                                                                               0 ∓ 52 4 ∓ 21                                                of UDPG                                                           ______________________________________                                    

The Tre6P synthase activity found in Transformant 4 was labile. With some extracts, the activity disappeared during a few hours storage on ice. However, the specific band seen in Western analyses was still present at nearly its original strength in extracts stored for 24 h at room temperature. Thus, it is probable that the conformation of the Tre6P synthase subunit changes during storage of tobacco extracts. These results indicate that increased Tre6P synthase activity will be achieved by transforming the tobacco simultaneously with TPS1 and one or more of the other subunits of yeast trehalose synthase, thereby increasing the conformational stability of the Tre6P synthase subunit.

Arabidopsis plants containing TPS1 under the ATS1A promoter were constructed in the same way as the tobacco transformants described above. These transformed Arabidopsis plants are also healthy and normal in appearance and produced fertile seed. It is expected that they will contain the 56 kDa subunit of yeast trehalose synthase and accumulate trehalose in their green tissues.

Example 16

Trehalose production by plants co-transformed with the yeast TPS1 gene and yeast TSL1 or TSL2 genes

A person skilled in the art can prepare vectors containing the coding sequences of the yeast genes TSL1 and TSL2 under the control of the ATS1A promoter and use them to transform tobacco, Arabidopsis and other plants by the methods described in Example 15. Plants simultaneously transformed with TPS1 and one or both of the other genes, TSL1 and TSL2, can be obtained by cross-breeding of individual transformants, by further transformation of one transformed plant with a second gene, or by transformation with vectors containing two or three of the genes linked to appropriate promoters: for example, TPS1 can be linked to the non-constitutive ATS1A promoter, to provide control over trehalose synthesis, and the other gene(s) driven by constitutive promoters.

It is expected that the controlled expression of genes for two or more subunits of the yeast trehalose synthase complex, at least one being the 56 kDa subunit, will result in increased accumulation of trehalose in the plant, because the 56 kDa subunit will be stabilized by the presence of the other subunit(s). Furthermore, introduction of the 102 kDa, Tre6Pase subunit will be beneficial because it will decrease the potential accumulation of trehalose 6-phosphate expected when the stability of the Tre6P synthase subunit is increased.

Example 17

Transformation of plants with genes for trehalose synthase under the control of stress-induced promoters

Plant promoters, such as LTI78 (Nordin et al 1993! Plant Mol. Biol. 21, 641-653) and RAB18 (Lång & Palva 1992! Plant Mol. Biol. 20, 951-962), are known that are induced in response to drought and cold stress. By transforming tobacco, Arabidopsis and other plants with TPS1 alone or preferably together with TSL1 and TSL2 the accumulation of trehalose in plant tissues can be made to occur only in response to these stresses. Other microbial genes encoding components of trehalose synthase can also be used. The advantage is that levels of trehalose that might be deleterious to certain tissues of certain plants and which can also represent a yield-decreasing diversion of photo-synthetic capacity, would accumulate only (1) when the plant is exposed fortuitously to stress (the benefits of the protection afforded by the trehalose then overcoming any deleterious effects) or (2) when the plant is deliberately exposed to stress in order to cause the accumulation of trehalose which will then be extracted from the harvested plant.

    __________________________________________________________________________     SEQUENCE LISTING                                                               (1) GENERAL INFORMATION:                                                       (iii) NUMBER OF SEQUENCES: 85                                                  (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:1:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 2481 base pairs                                                    (B) TYPE: Nucleotide                                                           (C) STRANDEDNESS: Doublestranded                                               (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Genomic DNA                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: no                                                         (iv) ANTI-SENSE: no                                                            (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE:                                                          (A) ORGANISM: Saccharomyces cerevisiae                                         (B) STRAIN: S288C                                                              (E) HAPLOTYPE: Haploid                                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (A) LIBRARY: Genomic                                                           (B) CLONE: 20                                                                  (viii) POSITION IN GENOME:                                                     (A) CHROMOSOME/SEGMENT: 2R                                                     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:1:                                        TTTTTAAACGTATATAGATGTCTACATGTGTGTTTTTGTTTTTTTACGTA50                           CGTATACCCACCTATATATGCATAATCCGTAATTGAAAAAAAAAAAAGTA100                          AAGATCAAGGAACACATCACCCTGGGCACATCAAGCGTGAGGAATGCCGT150                          CCAACTGGTGGAGACGCTTGATTTGCTCTTTTTGTTCCTGGGTCCAACCC200                          GGTCTCGAAGAACATCAGCACCACGCCCGCAACGACAAAGAACATTGCAA250                          TACACTTGCATATGTGAGCATAGTCGAGCGGTCCGTTCTGTGGTTGATGC300                          TGTTGTTCTTTCTTCTGTTTGTCAGGGGTGATAGCCATATCTTCGTGCTC350                          TTGTTGCGATTGTTCTGTTCCATCTGCACCAGAACAAAGAACAAAAGAAC400                          AAGGAACAAAGTCCAAGCACGTCAGCGCTGTTTATAAGGGGATTGACGAG450                          GGATCGGGCCTAGAGTGCCAGCGCGCCAGGGAGAGGGAGCCCCCTGGGCC500                          CTCATCCGCAGGCTGATAGGGGTCACCCCGCTGGGCAGGTCAGGGCAGGG550                          GCTCTCAGGGGGGCGCCATGGACAAACTGCACTGAGGTTCTAAGACACAT600                          GTATTATTGTGAGTATGTATATATAGAGAGAGATTAAGGCGTACAGCCGG650                          GTGGTAGAGATTGATTAACTTGGTAGTCTTATCTTGTCAATTGAGTTTCT700                          GTCAGTTTCTTCTTGAACAAGCACGCAGCTAAGTAAGCAACAAAGCAGGC750                          TAACAAACTAGGTACTCACATACAGACTTATTAAGACATAGAACTATGAC800                          TACGGATAACGCTAAGGCGCAACTGACCTCGTCTTCAGGGGGTAACATTA850                          TTGTGGTGTCCAACAGGCTTCCCGTGACAATCACTAAAAACAGCAGTACG900                          GGACAGTACGAGTACGCAATGTCGTCCGGAGGGCTGGTCACGGCGTTGGA950                          AGGGTTGAAGAAGACGTACACTTTCAAGTGGTTCGGATGGCCTGGGCTAG1000                         AGATTCCTGACGATGAGAAGGATCAGGTGAGGAAGGACTTGCTGGAAAAG1050                         TTTAATGCCGTACCCATCTTCCTGAGCGATGAAATCGCAGACTTACACTA1100                         CAACGGGTTCAGTAATTCTATTCTATGGCCGTTATTCCATTACCATCCTG1150                         GTGAGATCAATTTCGACGAGAATGCGTGGTTCGGATACAACGAGGCAAAC1200                         CAGACGTTCACCAACGAGATTGCTAAGACTATGAACCATAACGATTTAAT1250                         CTGGGTGCATGATTACCATTTGATGTTGGTTCCGGAAATGTTGAGAGTCA1300                         AGATTCACGAGAAGCAACTGCAAAACGTTAAGGTCGGGTGGTTCCTGCAC1350                         ACACCATTCCCTTCGAGTGAAATTTACAGAATCTTACCTGTCAGACAAGA1400                         GATTTTGAAGGGTGTTTTGAGTTGTGATTTAGTCGGGTTCCACACATACG1450                         ATTATGCAAGACATTTCTTGTCTTCCGTGCAAAGAGTGCTTAACGTGAAC1500                         ACATTGCCTAATGGGGTGGAATACCAGGGCAGATTCGTTAACGTAGGGGC1550                         CTTCCCTATCGGTATCGACGTGGACAAGTTCACCGATGGGTTGAAAAAGG1600                         AATCCGTACAAAAGAGAATCCAACAATTGAAGGAAACTTTCAAGGGCTGC1650                         AAGATCATAGTTGGTGTCGACAGGCTGGATTACATCAAAGGTGTGCCTCA1700                         GAAGTTGCACGCCATGGAAGTGTTTCTGAACGAGCATCCAGAATGGAGGG1750                         GCAAGGTTGTTCTGGTACAGGTTGCAGTGCCAAGTCGTGGAGATGTGGAA1800                         GAGTACCAATATTTAAGATCTGTGGTCAATGAGTTGGTCGGTAGAATCAA1850                         CGGTCAGTTCGGTACTGTGGAATTCGTCCCCATCCATTTCATGCACAAGT1900                         CTATACCATTTGAAGAGCTGATTTCGTTATATGCTGTGAGCGATGTTTGT1950                         TTGGTCTCGTCCACCCGTGATGGTATGAACTTGGTTTCCTACGAATATAT2000                         TGCTTGCCAAGAAGAAAAGAAAGGTTCCTTAATCCTGAGTGAGTTCACAG2050                         GTGCCGCACAATCCTTGAATGGTGCTATTATTGTAAATCCTTGGAACACC2100                         GATGATCTTTCTGATGCCATCAACGAGGCCTTGACTTTGCCCGATGTAAA2150                         GAAAGAAGTTAACTGGGAAAAACTTTACAAATACATCTCTAAATACACTT2200                         CTGCCTTCTGGGGTGAAAATTTCGTCCATGAATTATACAGTACATCATCA2250                         AGCTCAACAAGCTCCTCTGCCACCAAAAACTGATGAACCCGATGCAAATG2300                         AGACGATCGTCTATTCCTGGTCCGGTTTTCTCTGCCCTCTCTTCTATTCA2350                         CTTTTTTTATACTTTATATAAAATTATATAAATGACATAACTGAAACGCC2400                         ACACGTCCTCTCCTATTCGTTAACGCCTGTCTGTAGCGCTGTTACTGAAG2450                         CTGCGCAAGTAGTTTTTTCACCGTATAGGCC2481                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:2:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 495 amino acids                                                    (B) TYPE: amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Polypeptide                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: Yes                                                        (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:SEQ ID NO:2:                                         MetThrThrAspAsnAlaLysAlaGlnLeuThrSerSerSerGly                                  51015                                                                          GlyAsnIleIleValValSerAsnArgLeuProValThrIleThr                                  202530                                                                         LysAsnSerSerThrGlyGlnTyrGluTyrAlaMetSerSerGly                                  354045                                                                         GlyLeuValThrAlaLeuGluGlyLeuLysLysThrTyrThrPhe                                  505560                                                                         LysTrpPheGlyTrpProGlyLeuGluIleProAspAspGluLys                                  657075                                                                         AspGlnValArgLysAspLeuLeuGluLysPheAsnAlaValPro                                  808590                                                                         IlePheLeuSerAspGluIleAlaAspLeuHisTyrAsnGlyPhe                                  95100105                                                                       SerAsnSerIleLeuTrpProLeuPheHisTyrHisProGlyGlu                                  110115120                                                                      IleAsnPheAspGluAsnAlaTrpPheGlyTyrAsnGluAlaAsn                                  125130135                                                                      GlnThrPheThrAsnGluIleAlaLysThrMetAsnHisAsnAsp                                  140145150                                                                      LeuIleTrpValHisAspTyrHisLeuMetLeuValProGluMet                                  155160165                                                                      LeuArgValLysIleHisGluLysGlnLeuGlnAsnValLysVal                                  170175180                                                                      GlyTrpPheLeuHisThrProPheProSerSerGluIleTyrArg                                  185190195                                                                      IleLeuProValArgGlnGluIleLeuLysGlyValLeuSerCys                                  200205210                                                                      AspLeuValGlyPheHisThrTyrAspTyrAlaArgHisPheLeu                                  215220225                                                                      SerSerValGlnArgValLeuAsnValAsnThrLeuProAsnGly                                  230235240                                                                      ValGluTyrGlnGlyArgPheValAsnValGlyAlaPheProIle                                  245250255                                                                      GlyIleAspValAspLysPheThrAspGlyLeuLysLysGluSer                                  260265270                                                                      ValGlnLysArgIleGlnGlnLeuLysGluThrPheLysGlyCys                                  275280285                                                                      LysIleIleValGlyValAspArgLeuAspTyrIleLysGlyVal                                  290295300                                                                      ProGlnLysLeuHisAlaMetGluValPheLeuAsnGluHisPro                                  305310315                                                                      GluTrpArgGlyLysValValLeuValGlnValAlaValProSer                                  320325330                                                                      ArgGlyAspValGluGluTyrGlnTyrLeuArgSerValValAsn                                  335340345                                                                      GluLeuValGlyArgIleAsnGlyGlnPheGlyThrValGluPhe                                  350355360                                                                      ValProIleHisPheMetHisLysSerIleProPheGluGluLeu                                  365370375                                                                      IleSerLeuTyrAlaValSerAspValCysLeuValSerSerThr                                  380385390                                                                      ArgAspGlyMetAsnLeuValSerTyrGluTyrIleAlaCysGln                                  395400405                                                                      GluGluLysLysGlySerLeuIleLeuSerGluPheThrGlyAla                                  410415420                                                                      AlaGlnSerLeuAsnGlyAlaIleIleValAsnProTrpAsnThr                                  425430435                                                                      AspAspLeuSerAspAlaIleAsnGluAlaLeuThrLeuProAsp                                  440445450                                                                      ValLysLysGluValAsnTrpGluLysLeuTyrLysTyrIleSer                                  455460465                                                                      LysTyrThrSerAlaPheTrpGlyGluAsnPheValHisGluLeu                                  470475480                                                                      TyrSerThrSerSerSerSerThrSerSerSerAlaThrLysAsn                                  485490495                                                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:3:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 3000 base pairs                                                    (B) TYPE: Nucleotide                                                           (C) STRANDEDNESS: Doublestranded                                               (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Genomic DNA                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) ANTI-SENSE: No                                                            (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE:                                                          (A) ORGANISM: Saccharomyces cerevisiae                                         (B) STRAIN: S288C                                                              (E) HAPLOTYPE: Haploid                                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (A) LIBRARY: Genomic                                                           (B) CLONE: 6                                                                   (vii) POSITION IN GENOME:                                                      (A) CHROMOSOME/SEGMENT: 13                                                     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:3:                                        CCTCCTCTGGATCTTCTGGGTCTTCTGCGCCACCTTCCATTAAAAGGATT50                           ACGCCCCACTTGACTGCGTCTGCTGCAAAACAGCGTCCCTTATTGGCTAA100                          ACAGCCTTCTAATCTGAAATATTCGGAGTTAGCAGATATTTCGTCGAGTG150                          AGACGTCTTCGCAGCATAATGAGTCGGACCCGGATGATCTAACTACTGCC200                          CTGACGAGGATATGTTTCTGATTAGGAATTGATGACGCGAGAGGACTACA250                          AGGTTCAAAGTTCGGCGCTATTCATAAATCAACTAAGAAATATGCGCTGT300                          TAAGGTCATCTCAGGAGCTGTTTAGCCGTCTTCCATGGTCGATCGTTCCC350                          TCTATCAAAGGTAATGGCGCCATGAAGAACGCCATAAACACTGCAGTCTT400                          GGAGAATATCATTCCGCACCGTCATGTTAAGTGGGTCGGTACCGTCGGAA450                          TCCCAACGGATGAGATTCCGGAAAATATCCTTGCGAACATCTCTGACTCT500                          TTAAAAGACAAGTACGACTCCTATCCTGTCCTTACGGACGACGACACCTT550                          CAAAGCCGCATACAAAAACTACTGTAAACAAATCTTGTGGCCTACGCTGC600                          ATTACCAGATTCCAGACAATCCGAACTCGAAGGCTTTTGAAGATCACTCT650                          TGGAAGTTCTATAGAAACTTAAACCAAAGGTTTGCGGACGCGATCGTTAA700                          AATCTATAAGAAAGGTGACACCATCTGGATTCATGATTACCATTTAATGC750                          TGGTTCCGCAGATGGTGAGAGACGTCTTGCCTTTTGCCAAAATAGGATTT800                          ACCTTACATGTCTCGTTCCCCAGTAGTGAAGTGTTTAGGTGTCTGGCTCA850                          GCGTGAGAAGATCTTAGAAGGCTTGACCGGTGCAGACTTTGTCGGCTTCC900                          AGACGAGGGAGTATGCAAGACATTTCTTACAGACGTCTAACCGTCTGCTA950                          ATGGCGGACGTGGTACATGATGAAGAGCTAAAGTATAACGGCAGAGTCGT1000                         TTCTGTGAGGTTCACCCCAGTTGGTATCGACGCCTTTGATTTGCAATCGC1050                         AATTGAAGGATGGAAGTGTCATGCAATGGCGTCAATTGATTCGTGAAAGA1100                         TGGCAAGGGAAAAAACTAATTGTGTGTCGTGATCAATTCGATAGAATTAG1150                         AGGTATTCACAAGAAATTGTTGGCTTATGAAAAATTCTTGGTCGAAAATC1200                         CGGAATACGTGGAAAAATCGACTTTAATTCAAATCTGTATTGGAAGCAGT1250                         AAGGATGTAGAACTGGAGCGCCAGATCATGATTGTCGTGGATAGAATCAA1300                         CTCGCTATCCACCAATATTAGTATTTCTCAACCTGTGGTGTTTTTGCATC1350                         AAGATCTAGATTTTTCTCAGTATTTAGCTTTGAGTTCAGAGGCAGATTTG1400                         TTCGTAGTCAGCTCTCTAAGGGAAGGTATGAACTTGACATGTCACGAATT1450                         TATCGTTTGTTCTGAGGACAAAAATGCTCCCCTACTGTTGTCAGAATTTA1500                         CTGGTAGTGCATCTTTATTGAATGATGGCGCTATAATAATTAACCCATGG1550                         GATACCAAGAACTTCTCACAAGCCATTCTCAAGGGGTTGGAGATGCCATT1600                         CGATAAGAGAAGGCCACAGTGGAAGAAATTGATGAAAGACATTATCAACA1650                         ACGACTCTACAAACTGGATCAAGACTTCTTTACAAGATATTCATATTTCG1700                         TGGCAATTCAATCAAGAAGGTTCCAAGATCTTCAAATTGAATACAAAAAC1750                         ACTGATGGAAGATTACCAGTCATCTAAAAAGCGTATGTTTGTTTTCAACA1800                         TTGCTGAACCACCTTCATCGAGAATGATTTCCATACTGAATGACATGACT1850                         TCTAAGGGCAATATCGTTTACATCATGAACTCATTTCCAAAGCCCATTCT1900                         GGAAAATCTTTACAGTCGTGTGCAAAACATTGGGTTGATTGCCGAGAATG1950                         GTGCATACGTTAGTCTGAACGGTGTATGGTACAACATTGTTGATCAAGTC2000                         GATTGGCGTAACGATGTAGCCAAAATTCTCGAGGACAAAGTGGAGAGATT2050                         ACCTGGCTCGTACTACAAGATAAATGAGTCCATGATCAAGTTCCACACTG2100                         AAAATGCGGAAGATCAAGATCGTGTAGCTAGTGTTATCGGTGATGCCATC2150                         ACACATATCAATACTGTTTTTGACCACAGAGGTATTCATGCCTACGTTTA2200                         CAAAAACGTTGTTTCCGTACAACAAGTGGGACTTTCCTTATCGGCAGCTC2250                         AATTTCTTTTCAGATTCTATAATTCTGCTTCGGATCCACTGGATACGAGT2300                         TCCGGCCAAATCACAAATATTCAGACACCATCTCAACAAAATCCTTCAGA2350                         TCAAGAACAACAACCTCCAGCCTCTCCCACTGTGTCGATGAACCATATTG2400                         ATTTCGCATGTGTCTCTGGTTCATCGTCTCCTGTGCTTGAACCATTGTTC2450                         AAATTGGTCAATGATGAAGCAAGTGAAGGGCAAGTAAAAGCCGGACACGC2500                         CATTGTTTATGGTGATGCTACTTCTACTTATGCCAAAGAACATGTAAATG2550                         GGTTAAACGAACTTTTCACGATCATTTCAAGAATCATTGAAGATTAAATT2600                         TTACCATTTTAAAATTTTAATGTTCTTGGGTATGAACTTTTATTTTCAAC2650                         TGCTTATTATATATCAATTCTATAAATTTTTTTCTTCTCTCTAACGACCA2700                         ATTATAAAATTCATCCTCTTATTTATTACAGCATCTTATACATTATGTAT2750                         ATGGGTAGCTATTATTCATTTTTGCTTCGTAAGGACTTTTTTTGTCAACT2800                         TTTTCATCCTAAGCGGCTAAAAGTGATTGGAGAGGAATGTCCAGGCGACC2850                         AATGATAAAAACGCTTTCTCTTGGAACAAGAAATAGGAGCAATTGACAGT2900                         TGTCGATGAACAGCGAAAATAGTAAGATAACCTTCAAGCCCAATATTCTA2950                         ATTAAAGGCGTTTATATATTTGTACTTTATGGTATGTGCATATGTATTGT3000                         (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:4:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 785 amino acids                                                    (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Polypeptide                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: Yes ?                                                      (v) FRAGMENT TYPE: C-terminal                                                  (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:4:                                        ArgGlyLeuGlnGlySerLysPheGlyAlaIleHisLysSerThr                                  51015                                                                          LysLysTyrAlaLeuLeuArgSerSerGlnGluLeuPheSerArg                                  202530                                                                         LeuProTrpSerIleValProSerIleLysGlyAsnGlyAlaMet                                  354045                                                                         LysAsnAlaIleAsnThrAlaValLeuGluAsnIleIleProHis                                  505560                                                                         ArgHisValLysTrpValGlyThrValGlyIleProThrAspGlu                                  657075                                                                         IleProGluAsnIleLeuAlaAsnIleSerAspSerLeuLysAsp                                  808590                                                                         LysTyrAspSerTyrProValLeuThrAspAspAspThrPheLys                                  95100105                                                                       AlaAlaTyrLysAsnTyrCysLysGlnIleLeuTrpProThrLeu                                  110115120                                                                      HisTyrGlnIleProAspAsnProAsnSerLysAlaPheGluAsp                                  125130135                                                                      HisSerTrpLysPheTyrArgAsnLeuAsnGlnArgPheAlaAsp                                  140145150                                                                      AlaIleValLysIleTyrLysLysGlyAspThrIleTrpIleHis                                  155160165                                                                      AspTyrHisLeuMetLeuValProGlnMetValArgAspValLeu                                  170175180                                                                      ProPheAlaLysIleGlyPheThrLeuHisValSerPheProSer                                  185190195                                                                      SerGluValPheArgCysLeuAlaGlnArgGluLysIleLeuGlu                                  200205210                                                                      GlyLeuThrGlyAlaAspPheValGlyPheGlnThrArgGluTyr                                  215220225                                                                      AlaArgHisPheLeuGlnThrSerAsnArgLeuLeuMetAlaAsp                                  230235240                                                                      ValValHisAspGluGluLeuLysTyrAsnGlyArgValValSer                                  245250255                                                                      ValArgPheThrProValGlyIleAspAlaPheAspLeuGlnSer                                  260265270                                                                      GlnLeuLysAspGlySerValMetGlnTrpArgGlnLeuIleArg                                  275280285                                                                      GluArgTrpGlnGlyLysLysLeuIleValCysArgAspGlnPhe                                  290295300                                                                      AspArgIleArgGlyIleHisLysLysLeuLeuAlaTyrGluLys                                  305310315                                                                      PheLeuValGluAsnProGluTyrValGluLysSerThrLeuIle                                  320325330                                                                      GlnIleCysIleGlySerSerLysAspValGluLeuGluArgGln                                  335340345                                                                      IleMetIleValValAspArgIleAsnSerLeuSerThrAsnIle                                  350355360                                                                      SerIleSerGlnProValValPheLeuHisGlnAspLeuAspPhe                                  365370375                                                                      SerGlnTyrLeuAlaLeuSerSerGluAlaAspLeuPheValVal                                  380385390                                                                      SerSerLeuArgGluGlyMetAsnLeuThrCysHisGluPheIle                                  395400405                                                                      ValCysSerGluAspLysAsnAlaProLeuLeuLeuSerGluPhe                                  410415420                                                                      ThrGlySerAlaSerLeuLeuAsnAspGlyAlaIleIleIleAsn                                  425430435                                                                      ProTrpAspThrLysAsnPheSerGlnAlaIleLeuLysGlyLeu                                  440445450                                                                      GluMetProPheAspLysArgArgProGlnTrpLysLysLeuMet                                  455460465                                                                      LysAspIleIleAsnAsnAspSerThrAsnTrpIleLysThrSer                                  470475480                                                                      LeuGlnAspIleHisIleSerTrpGlnPheAsnGlnGluGlySer                                  485490495                                                                      LysIlePheLysLeuAsnThrLysThrLeuMetGluAspTyrGln                                  500505510                                                                      SerSerLysLysArgMetPheValPheAsnIleAlaGluProPro                                  515520525                                                                      SerSerArgMetIleSerIleLeuAsnAspMetThrSerLysGly                                  530535540                                                                      AsnIleValTyrIleMetAsnSerPheProLysProIleLeuGlu                                  545550555                                                                      AsnLeuTyrSerArgValGlnAsnIleGlyLeuIleAlaGluAsn                                  560565570                                                                      GlyAlaTyrValSerLeuAsnGlyValTrpTyrAsnIleValAsp                                  575580585                                                                      GlnValAspTrpArgAsnAspValAlaLysIleLeuGluAspLys                                  590595600                                                                      ValGluArgLeuProGlySerTyrTyrLysIleAsnGluSerMet                                  605610615                                                                      IleLysPheHisThrGluAsnAlaGluAspGlnAspArgValAla                                  620625630                                                                      SerValIleGlyAspAlaIleThrHisIleAsnThrValPheAsp                                  635640645                                                                      HisArgGlyIleHisAlaTyrValTyrLysAsnValValSerVal                                  650655660                                                                      GlnGlnValGlyLeuSerLeuSerAlaAlaGlnPheLeuPheArg                                  665670675                                                                      PheTyrAsnSerAlaSerAspProLeuAspThrSerSerGlyGln                                  680685690                                                                      IleThrAsnIleGlnThrProSerGlnGlnAsnProSerAspGln                                  695700705                                                                      GluGlnGlnProProAlaSerProThrValSerMetAsnHisIle                                  710715720                                                                      AspPheAlaCysValSerGlySerSerSerProValLeuGluPro                                  725730735                                                                      LeuPheLysLeuValAsnAspGluAlaSerGluGlyGlnValLys                                  740745750                                                                      AlaGlyHisAlaIleValTyrGlyAspAlaThrSerThrTyrAla                                  755760765                                                                      LysGluHisValAsnGlyLeuAsnGluLeuPheThrIleIleSer                                  770775780                                                                      ArgIleIleGluAsp                                                                785                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:5:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:5:                                         TyrIleSerLys                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:6:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:6:                                         AspValGluGluTyrGlnTyrLeuArg                                                    (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:7:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:7:                                         HisPheLeuSerSerValGlnArg                                                       5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:8:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:8:                                         ValLeuAsnValAsnThrLeuProAsnGlyValGluTyrGln                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:9:                                               (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:9:                                         SerValValAsnGluLeuValGlyArg                                                    5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:10:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 4                                                                  (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:10:                                        GluThrPheLys                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:11:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:11:                                        LeuAspTyrIleLys                                                                5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:12:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:12:                                        IleLeuProValArg                                                                5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:13:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:13:                                        GluValAsnXaaGluLys                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:14:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:14:                                        PheTyrAspXaaXaa                                                                5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:15:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 13 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:15:                                        LeuXaaAlaMetGluValPheLeuAsnGluXaaProGlu                                        510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:16:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:16:                                        TyrThrSerAlaPheTrpGlyGluAsnPheValXaaGluLeu                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:17:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:17:                                        PheGlyXaaProGlyLeuGluIlePro                                                    5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:18:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:18:                                        XaaGlySerValMetGln                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:19:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:19:                                        LeuProGlySerTyrTyrLys                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:20:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:20:                                        AspAlaIleValValAsnProMetAspSerValAla                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:21:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:21:                                        MetIleSerIleLeu                                                                5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:22:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:22:                                        ArgArgProGlnTrpLys                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:23:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:23:                                        SerXaaProGlnLys                                                                5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:24:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 15 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:24:                                        PheTyrArgAsnLeuAsnGlnArgPheAlaAspAlaIleValLys                                  51015                                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:25:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:25:                                        AspGlySerValMetGlnXaaXaaGlnLeuXaa                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:26:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 18 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:26:                                        AsnAlaIleAsnThrAlaValLeuGluAsnIleIleProXaaXaa                                  51015                                                                          XaaValLys                                                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:27:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:27:                                        LeuValAsnAspGluAlaSerGluGlyGlnValLys                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:28:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:28:                                        XaaGlnAspIleLeuLeuAsnAsnThrPheXaa                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:29:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:29:                                        AspThrThrGlnThrAlaProValXaaAsnAsnValXaaPro                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:30:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:30:                                        AsnGlnLeuAspAlaXaaAsnTyrAlaGluVal                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:31:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 10 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: Yes                                                        (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:31:                                        AsnLeuSerArgTrpArgAsnTyrAlaGlu                                                 510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:32:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: Yes                                                        (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:32:                                        TrpGlnGlyLys                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:33:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:33:                                        IleGlnLeuGlyGluSerAsnAspAspXaaXaa                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:34:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:34:                                        GlnValProThrIleGlnAspXaaThrAsnLys                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:35:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:35:                                        XaaTyrXaaTyrValLys                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:36:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:36:                                        AsnGlnLeuGlyAsnTyr                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:37:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 4 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:37:                                                   ValAlaLeuThr                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:38:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:38:                                                   AspAlaIleValValAsnProXaaAspSerValAla                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:39:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:39:                                                   ThrPheThrAsnTyrAspGlySerLys                                                    5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:40:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 10 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:40:                                                   ThrGlyAsnAspProSerHisIleAlaLys                                                 510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:41:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:41:                                                   IleTyrGluSerGlnGlyLys                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:42:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:42:                                                   AlaGluGlyAlaThrGlyGlyLeuValProHisLys                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:43:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 10 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:43:                                                   LeuAlaThrGluLeuProAlaXaaSerLys                                                 510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:44:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:44:                                                   SerLeuLeuAspAlaGlyAlaLys                                                       5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:45:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:45:                                                   GluLysProGlnAspLeuAspAspAspProLeuTyrLeuThr                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:46:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:46:                                                   XaaGlnXaaHisGlnAspXaaXaaAsnLeuThr                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:47:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 15 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:47:                                                   PheAsnAspGluSerIleIleIleGlyTyrPheXaaXaaAlaPro                                  51015                                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:48:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:48:                                                   SerArgLeuPheLeuPheAspTyrAspGlyThrLeuThrPro                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:49:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:49:                                                   GlnLeuGlyAsnTyrGlyPheTyrProValTyr                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:50:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:50:                                                   PheLeuValGluAsnProGluTyrValGluLys                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:51:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:51:                                                   XaaIleThrProHisLeuThrAlaXaaAlaAla                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:52:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 10 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:52:                                                   ThrLeuMetGluAspTyrGlnSerSerLys                                                 510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:53:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 15 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:53:                                                   IleLeuGluGlyLeuThrGlyAlaAspPheValGlyPheGlnThr                                  51015                                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:54:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 14 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:54:                                                   GlnIleLeuXaaProThrLeuXaaTyrGlnIleProAspAsn                                     510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:55:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:55:                                                   PheGlyGlyTyrSerAsnLys                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:56:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 23 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:56:                                                   PheXaaThrGluAsnAlaGluAspGlnAspXaaValAlaXaaVal                                  51015                                                                          IleGlyXaaAlaIleXaaXaaIle                                                       20                                                                             (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:57:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 18 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:57:                                                   XaaValGlyThrValGlyIleProThrAspGluIleProGluAsn                                  51015                                                                          IleLeuAla                                                                      (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:58:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 19 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptides                                                   (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:58:                                                   LeuLeuValHisSerLeuLeuAsnAsnThrSerGlnThrSerLeu                                  51015                                                                          GluGlyProAsn                                                                   (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:59:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 20 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:59:                                                   SerSerThrThrAsnThrAlaThrLeuXaaXaaLeuValSerSer                                  51015                                                                          XaaIlePheMetGlu                                                                20                                                                             (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:60:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 15 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:60:                                                   AlaXaaAsnArgProThrSerAlaAlaThrSerLeuValAsnArg                                  51015                                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:61:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:61:                                                   XaaPheThrIleIleXaa                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:62:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 15 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:62:                                                   AsnLeuThrAlaAsnAlaThrThrSerHisThrProThrSerLys                                  51015                                                                          (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:63:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:63:                                                   PheXaaXaaTyrSerAsnLys                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:64:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:64:                                                   XaaProXaaAlaPheAsnXaa                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:65:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:65:                                                   IleAlaSerProIleGlnXaaGlu                                                       5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:66:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:66:                                                   GlnArgProLeuLeuAlaLys                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:67:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:67:                                                   PhePheSerProSerSerAsnIleProThrAspArg                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:68:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:68:                                                   AlaLeuSerAsnAsnIleSerGlnGlu                                                    5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:69:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:69:                                                   XaaXaaXaaTyrThrPro                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:70:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 16 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:70:                                                   IleAlaSerProIleGlnGlnGlnGlnGlnAspProThrAlaAsn                                  51015                                                                          Leu                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:71:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:71:                                                   ThrMetLeuLysProArg                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:72:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:72:                                                   IleIleGluAspGluAla                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:73:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:73:                                                   IleThrProHisLeuThrAlaSerAlaAlaLys                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:74:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:74:                                                   SerLeuValAlaProAlaProGlu                                                       5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:75:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 12 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:75:                                                   LysProGlnAspLeuAspAspAspProLeuTyrLeu                                           510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:76:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 6                                                                  (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:76:                                                   LysTyrAlaLeuLeuArg                                                             5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:77:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 11 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:77:                                                   GlnLeuGlyAsnTyrXaaPheTyrProValTyr                                              510                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:78:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 8 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:78:                                                   AlaPheGluAspHisSerTrpLys                                                       5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:79:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 16 amino acids                                                     (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:79:                                                   AlaGlyHisAlaIleValTyrGlyAspAlaThrSerThrTyrAla                                  51015                                                                          Lys                                                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:80:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 9 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:80:                                                   GluArgLeuProGlySerTyrTyrLys                                                    5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:81:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 7 amino acids                                                      (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Peptide                                                    (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) FRAGMENT TYPE: N-terminal                                                 (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:81:                                                   ThrLeuMetGluAspTyrGln                                                          5                                                                              (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:82:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 1098 amino acids                                                   (B) TYPE: Amino acid                                                           (C) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Polypeptide                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: Yes                                                        (v) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION:82:                                                   MetAlaLeuIleValAlaSerLeuPheLeuProTyrGlnProGln                                  51015                                                                          PheGluLeuAspThrSerLeuProGluAsnSerGlnValAspSer                                  202530                                                                         SerLeuValAsnIleGlnAlaMetAlaAsnAspGlnGlnGlnGln                                  354045                                                                         ArgAlaLeuSerAsnAsnIleSerGlnGluSerLeuValAlaPro                                  505560                                                                         AlaProGluGlnGlyValProProAlaIleSerArgSerAlaThr                                  657075                                                                         ArgSerProSerAlaPheAsnArgAlaSerSerThrThrAsnThr                                  808590                                                                         AlaThrLeuAspAspLeuValSerSerAspIlePheMetGluAsn                                  95100105                                                                       LeuThrAlaAsnAlaThrThrSerHisThrProThrSerLysThr                                  110115120                                                                      MetLeuLysProArgLysAsnGlySerValGluArgPhePheSer                                  125130135                                                                      ProSerSerAsnIleProThrAspArgIleAlaSerProIleGln                                  140145150                                                                      HisGluHisAspSerGlySerArgIleAlaSerProIleGlnGln                                  155160165                                                                      GlnGlnGlnAspProThrThrAsnLeuLeuLysAsnValAsnLys                                  170175180                                                                      SerLeuLeuValHisSerLeuLeuAsnAsnThrSerGlnThrSer                                  185190195                                                                      LeuGluGlyProAsnAsnHisIleValThrProLysSerArgAla                                  200205210                                                                      GlyAsnArgProThrSerAlaAlaThrSerLeuValAsnArgThr                                  215220225                                                                      LysGlnGlySerAlaSerSerGlySerSerGlySerSerAlaPro                                  230235240                                                                      ProSerIleLysArgIleThrProHisLeuThrAlaSerAlaAla                                  245250255                                                                      LysGlnArgProLeuLeuAlaLysGlnProSerAsnLeuLysTyr                                  260265270                                                                      SerGluLeuAlaAspIleSerSerSerGluThrSerSerGlnHis                                  275280285                                                                      AsnGluSerAspProAspAspLeuThrThrAlaProAspGluGlu                                  290295300                                                                      TyrValSerAspLeuGluMetAspAspAlaLysGlnAspTyrLys                                  305310315                                                                      ValProLysPheGlyGlyTyrSerAsnLysSerLysLeuLysLys                                  320325330                                                                      TyrAlaLeuLeuArgSerSerGlnGluLeuPheSerArgLeuPro                                  335340345                                                                      TrpSerIleValProSerIleLysGlyAsnGlyAlaMetLysAsn                                  350355360                                                                      AlaIleAsnThrAlaValLeuGluAsnIleIleProHisArgHis                                  365370375                                                                      ValLysTrpValGlyThrValGlyIleProThrAspGluIlePro                                  380385390                                                                      GluAsnIleLeuAlaAsnIleSerAspSerLeuLysAspLysTyr                                  395400405                                                                      AspSerTyrProValLeuThrAspAspAspThrPheLysAlaAla                                  410415420                                                                      TyrLysAsnTyrCysLysGlnIleLeuTrpProThrLeuHisTyr                                  425430435                                                                      GlnIleProAspAsnProAsnSerLysAlaPheGluAspHisSer                                  440445450                                                                      TrpLysPheTyrArgAsnLeuAsnGlnArgPheAlaAspAlaIle                                  455460465                                                                      ValLysIleTyrLysLysGlyAspThrIleTrpIleHisAspTyr                                  470475480                                                                      HisLeuMetLeuValProGlnMetValArgAspValLeuProPhe                                  485490495                                                                      AlaLysIleGlyPheThrLeuHisValSerPheProSerSerGlu                                  500505510                                                                      ValPheArgCysLeuAlaGlnArgGluLysIleLeuGluGlyLeu                                  515520525                                                                      ThrGlyAlaAspPheValGlyPheGlnThrArgGluTyrAlaArg                                  530535540                                                                      HisPheLeuGlnThrSerAsnArgLeuLeuMetAlaAspValVal                                  545550555                                                                      HisAspGluGluLeuLysTyrAsnGlyArgValValSerValArg                                  560565570                                                                      PheThrProValGlyIleAspAlaPheAspLeuGlnSerGlnLeu                                  575580585                                                                      LysAspGlySerValMetGlnTrpArgGlnLeuIleArgGluArg                                  590595600                                                                      TrpGlnGlyLysLysLeuIleValCysArgAspGlnPheAspArg                                  605610615                                                                      IleArgGlyIleHisLysLysLeuLeuAlaTyrGluLysPheLeu                                  620625630                                                                      ValGluAsnProGluTyrValGluLysSerThrLeuIleGlnIle                                  635640645                                                                      CysIleGlySerSerLysAspValGluLeuGluArgGlnIleMet                                  650655660                                                                      IleValValAspArgIleAsnSerLeuSerThrAsnIleSerIle                                  665670675                                                                      SerGlnProValValPheLeuHisGlnAspLeuAspPheSerGln                                  680685690                                                                      TyrLeuAlaLeuSerSerGluAlaAspLeuPheValValSerSer                                  695700705                                                                      LeuArgGluGlyMetAsnLeuThrCysHisGluPheIleValCys                                  710715720                                                                      SerGluAspLysAsnAlaProLeuLeuLeuSerGluPheThrGly                                  725730735                                                                      SerAlaSerLeuLeuAsnAspGlyAlaIleIleIleAsnProTrp                                  740745750                                                                      AspThrLysAsnPheSerGlnAlaIleLeuLysGlyLeuGluMet                                  755760765                                                                      ProPheAspLysArgArgProGlnTrpLysLysLeuMetLysAsp                                  770775780                                                                      IleIleAsnAsnAspSerThrAsnTrpIleLysThrSerLeuGln                                  785790795                                                                      AspIleHisIleSerTrpGlnPheAsnGlnGluGlySerLysIle                                  800805810                                                                      PheLysLeuAsnThrLysThrLeuMetGluAspTyrGlnSerSer                                  815820825                                                                      LysLysArgMetPheValPheAsnIleAlaGluProProSerSer                                  830835840                                                                      ArgMetIleSerIleLeuAsnAspMetThrSerLysGlyAsnIle                                  845850855                                                                      ValTyrIleMetAsnSerPheProLysProIleLeuGluAsnLeu                                  860865870                                                                      TyrSerArgValGlnAsnIleGlyLeuIleAlaGluAsnGlyAla                                  875880885                                                                      TyrValSerLeuAsnGlyValTrpTyrAsnIleValAspGlnVal                                  890895900                                                                      AspTrpArgAsnAspValAlaLysIleLeuGluAspLysValGlu                                  905910915                                                                      ArgLeuProGlySerTyrTyrLysIleAsnGluSerMetIleLys                                  920925930                                                                      PheHisThrGluAsnAlaGluAspGlnAspArgValAlaSerVal                                  935940945                                                                      IleGlyAspAlaIleThrHisIleAsnThrValPheAspHisArg                                  950955960                                                                      GlyIleHisAlaTyrValTyrLysAsnValValSerValGlnGln                                  965970975                                                                      ValGlyLeuSerLeuSerAlaAlaGlnPheLeuPheArgPheTyr                                  980985990                                                                      AsnSerAlaSerAspProLeuAspThrSerSerGlyGlnIleThr                                  99510001005                                                                    AsnIleGlnThrProSerGlnGlnAsnProSerAspGlnGluGln                                  101010151020                                                                   GlnProProAlaSerProThrValSerMetAsnHisIleAspPhe                                  102510301035                                                                   AlaCysValSerGlySerSerSerProValLeuGluProLeuPhe                                  104010451050                                                                   LysLeuValAsnAspGluAlaSerGluGlyGlnValLysAlaGly                                  105510601065                                                                   HisAlaIleValTyrGlyAspAlaThrSerThrTyrAlaLysGlu                                  107010751080                                                                   HisValAsnGlyLeuAsnGluLeuPheThrIleIleSerArgIle                                  108510901095                                                                   IleGluAsp                                                                      1098                                                                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:83:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH: 5981 basepairs                                                     (B) TYPE: Nucleotide                                                           (C) STRANDEDNESS: Doublestranded                                               (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Genomic DNA                                                (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) ANTI-SENSE: No                                                            (vi) ORIGINAL SOURCE:                                                          (A) ORGANISM: Saccharomyces cerevisiae                                         (B) STRAIN: S288C                                                              (C) HAPLOTYPE: Haploid                                                         (vii) IMMEDIATE SOURCE:                                                        (A) LIBRARY: Genomic                                                           (B) CLONE: 6 and 10                                                            (viii) POSITION IN GENOME:                                                     (A) CHROMOSOME/SEGMENT: 13                                                     (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:83:                                       GGCTCACATTCCAAAAAGAACAGTTCGAACGATAAAGCTTTTCACCGCTG50                           GTGGTGATAACAAGGTTAGGATATGGAAGTTGAACAGAGATGAAAACGGA100                          CAAAATGGGGGGGTGCGTAAGATTGAAAGCCTTGACTTTCTTGGCTCGTG150                          ACGCATCACGAACAGGCCATAAATGTAATCCGATTCAACTCGAAGGGTGA200                          CGTACTGGCGTCTGCGGGCGATGACGGCCAAGTGCTGCTATGGAAGCAAG250                          AAGAACCAAATACACAGCAAGAATCTGTGGTCAGACCATTCGGAATGGAT300                          GCGGAGACTAGTGAAGCAGACGAGAACAAGGAGAAATGGGTTGTGTGGAA350                          ACGGCTGCGTGGTGGTAGCGGTGCTACTGCGGCGGCAGAGATTTACGATC400                          TAGCGTGGTCACCTGATAACAGGAACATAGTGGTGGCATGTATGGACAAT450                          TCGATACGACTGTTCGATGTTGGAGCTGGGATGCTGGTATGCGGCCAGTC500                          GGATCATGGTCACTACGTCCAAGGTCTTGCATGGGACCCATTAAATCAGT550                          TTATTCTCTCACAGTCTGCGGACCGGTCTCTGCATGTATATGGAGTCATT600                          CTTTCATCTGCAGGAGTTAGTTACAGGGCTTGAAACTTTAGAAGTAAGGT650                          TGCCAAGGCAGAACTGCCTTGTCCAGGTGATGTCCTGAGGACAAATTACT700                          TTTTCACAACGAGACGCTACCTTCATTCTTTAGGCGATGCAGCATATCGC750                          CTTGTGGTGGTTTGGTCGTAATTCCCAGTGGTGTGTATAAGGTGGCTGGT800                          GATGAAGTCGCGAACTGCGTATACGTGTATACTAGATCTGGAATACTGAA850                          CAGCGCTGGTGGCGTTAAAAACCGGCCTGCGATTAGAATCCCATCTTTGA900                          AGAAACCAGCGCTGATGGCGGCTTTCTCGCCCGTATTTTACGAAACGTGC950                          CAGAAGAGTGTGCTTAAGCTGCCCTATAAGCTAGTATTTGCCATAGCAAC1000                         GACTAACGAAGTACTCGTGTACGACACGGATGTATTGGAGCCGTTATGCG1050                         TTGTGGGAAATATACATTACTCACCCATAACTGATTTAGCATGGTCTGAG1100                         GATGGCTCGACCCTACTAATCTCATCAACAGACGGATTCTGTTCGTATGT1150                         ATCGATCGACACAGAAACGCAATTCGGTTCAAGGATAGAGCCGCCAGCGA1200                         TGCATGCAGAGCCACTAGACACTGACGAGAGCGCGGTAGCGGCTAAGAAC1250                         CAGCGCGAGGCAGGTGGGATCGTGAACATGCTGCCGGTGAAGAAGATCCC1300                         CTGCAATAGTAGCGATAGTAAAAAGAGGCGCATACATCCTACGCCAGTCG1350                         ATTTGTGATTTTTAATATATTTAATGCGGTACATAAGAATGCCTAATCTA1400                         GTTTGCCAGCGAAGATATTTTCCATTGTGTGCTCAATGGACCCTGTGTTC1450                         CTGAGATCTTGCACGACTTTTTCCTGAGGCACATGTGGCGCCATCGTCAT1500                         CACGATTTCAACCATGTCACTATTAACGGCTCTCTTTCGATCACTACCAT1550                         GTCTGTTTAACCGAGCAACGCGTTCCTCCGGAGCCGATGGTACTGGCTCC1600                         GGAGAAGGGTCGTTGGTGGCGACCGAGGGCGCCGGTTTGGCATCCTGTAC1650                         GGTCCGCAAGGGTACTTGCTTGGCGCCCCTGTGTTTCACGGTGTAAACAA1700                         ACAAGCACACCATCGTCAGTATAAAGCACTATAGTCGAACCATCCATTTT1750                         TACTTTTGTGCGCGTGGGTAGCCGTGCCTCGTCTGTGTGTGTGGGAATGT1800                         ATAAATGTGTCCCGAGTTATTATTCTAAAGCGGGCACCATTGTAGTAACT1850                         TATTGCGAAATTTCTGCTCTTCTCGTCTCGCTCAAAAATCGCGTTCAGGG1900                         TAAAAGGGGCGAAACAGAGGGCCAGATAGAAATTTCGAGAAAACGGGTCA1950                         CCCCGCCCCTGCATTTTGATATGGCGTATTTGGGATTGCTTGCTCGAAAG2000                         TGTCTAAGTCCGGCTGGCGGGCCTGGCGCCCTCGCCGAAGGGAGATAGGA2050                         AGGGGCGGGGGTCCGGGCAGCGGCTATGGTGTCAGTTACCTAGGGAAGGA2100                         GAAGGGGGTAGAACCAAGGGGCTAGCACACTCACCCTGGGGCCCCCGTCT2150                         AGCCAAGCTTAAATATAAATACTAATGTAACTATAAATATAAGGATCTAC2200                         CGTGTCATTGCACATCCACCCACCCGTCGATTAAAAAACCAAACAAAGCA2250                         AAGAATACAATAGCAACGCAAGATCAACACAATGGCTCTCATCGTGGCAT2300                         CTTTGTTTTTGCCCTACCAACCACAATTCGAGCTTGACACCTCTCTCCCT2350                         GAGAACTCGCAGGTGGACTCATCTCTCGTGAACATCCAGGCTATGGCCAA2400                         TGACCAACAGCAACAACGTGCGCTTTCTAACAACATCTCACAGGAATCAT2450                         TGGTCGCGCCAGCACCAGAACAAGGTGTCCCCCCAGCAATCTCAAGGAGT2500                         GCCACCAGGTCACCCAGTGCTTTCAACCGCGCCTCGTCTACGACAAATAC2550                         TGCCACTTTAGATGATCTTGTCTCTTCGGACATATTCATGGAAAACTTGA2600                         CTGCGAATGCAACTACCTCACATACGCCAACAAGCAAGACTATGCTTAAA2650                         CCCCGGAAAAATGGTTCCGTGGAACGATTCTTCTCCCCTTCTTCCAATAT2700                         TCCCACGGATCGCATCGCATCGCCAATCCAGCATGAGCATGACTCCGGTT2750                         CGAGAATTGCTTCGCCAATCCAACAGCAACAGCAGGACCCCACGACCAAC2800                         TTATTAAAGAACGTCAACAAGTCATTGTTAGTGCACTCACTGTTGAACAA2850                         CACCTCACAAACTAGCCTAGAAGGACCCAACAACCACATTGTTACCCCGA2900                         AATCGAGGGCGGGCAACAGGCCTACTTCGGCGGCTACTTCTTTAGTTAAT2950                         AGGACCAAACAAGGTTCGGCCTCCTCTGGATCTTCTGGGTCTTCTGCGCC3000                         ACCTTCCATTAAAAGGATTACGCCCCACTTGACTGCGTCTGCTGCAAAAC3050                         AGCGTCCCTTATTGGCTAAACAGCCTTCTAATCTGAAATATTCGGAGTTA3100                         GCAGATATTTCGTCGAGTGAGACGTCTTCGCAGCATAATGAGTCGGACCC3150                         GGATGATCTAACTACTGCCCCTGACGAGGAATATGTTTCTGATTTGGAAA3200                         TGGATGACGCGAAGCAGGACTACAAGGTTCCAAAGTTCGGCGGCTATTCC3250                         AATAAATCTAAACTTAAGAAATATGCGCTGTTAAGGTCATCTCAGGAGCT3300                         GTTTAGCCGTCTTCCATGGTCGATCGTTCCCTCTATCAAAGGTAATGGCG3350                         CCATGAAGAACGCCATAAACACTGCAGTCTTGGAGAATATCATTCCGCAC3400                         CGTCATGTTAAGTGGGTCGGTACCGTCGGAATCCCAACGGATGAGATTCC3450                         GGAAAATATCCTTGCGAACATCTCTGACTCTTTAAAAGACAAGTACGACT3500                         CCTATCCTGTCCTTACGGACGACGACACCTTCAAAGCCGCATACAAAAAC3550                         TACTGTAAACAAATCTTGTGGCCTACGCTGCATTACCAGATTCCAGACAA3600                         TCCGAACTCGAAGGCTTTTGAAGATCACTCTTGGAAGTTCTATAGAAACT3650                         TAAACCAAAGGTTTGCGGACGCGATCGTTAAAATCTATAAGAAAGGTGAC3700                         ACCATCTGGATTCATGATTACCATTTAATGCTGGTTCCGCAGATGGTGAG3750                         AGACGTCTTGCCTTTTGCCAAAATAGGATTTACCTTACATGTCTCGTTCC3800                         CCAGTAGTGAAGTGTTTAGGTGTCTGGCTCAGCGTGAGAAGATCTTAGAA3850                         GGCTTGACCGGTGCAGACTTTGTCGGCTTCCAGACGAGGGAGTATGCAAG3900                         ACATTTCTTACAGACGTCTAACCGTCTGCTAATGGCGGACGTGGTACATG3950                         ATGAAGAGCTAAAGTATAACGGCAGAGTCGTTTCTGTGAGGTTCACCCCA4000                         GTTGGTATCGACGCCTTTGATTTGCAATCGCAATTGAAGGATGGAAGTGT4050                         CATGCAATGGCGTCAATTGATTCGTGAAAGATGGCAAGGGAAAAAACTAA4100                         TTGTGTGTCGTGATCAATTCGATAGAATTAGAGGTATTCACAAGAAATTG4150                         TTGGCTTATGAAAAATTCTTGGTCGAAAATCCGGAATACGTGGAAAAATC4200                         GACTTTAATTCAAATCTGTATTGGAAGCAGTAAGGATGTAGAACTGGAGC4250                         GCCAGATCATGATTGTCGTGGATAGAATCAACTCGCTATCCACCAATATT4300                         AGTATTTCTCAACCTGTGGTGTTTTTGCATCAAGATCTAGATTTTTCTCA4350                         GTATTTAGCTTTGAGTTCAGAGGCAGATTTGTTCGTAGTCAGCTCTCTAA4400                         GGGAAGGTATGAACTTGACATGTCACGAATTTATCGTTTGTTCTGAGGAC4450                         AAAAATGCTCCCCTACTGTTGTCAGAATTTACTGGTAGTGCATCTTTATT4500                         GAATGATGGCGCTATAATAATTAACCCATGGGATACCAAGAACTTCTCAC4550                         AAGCCATTCTCAAGGGGTTGGAGATGCCATTCGATAAGAGAAGGCCACAG4600                         TGGAAGAAATTGATGAAAGACATTATCAACAACGACTCTACAAACTGGAT4650                         CAAGACTTCTTTACAAGATATTCATATTTCGTGGCAATTCAATCAAGAAG4700                         GTTCCAAGATCTTCAAATTGAATACAAAAACACTGATGGAAGATTACCAG4750                         TCATCTAAAAAGCGTATGTTTGTTTTCAACATTGCTGAACCACCTTCATC4800                         GAGAATGATTTCCATACTGAATGACATGACTTCTAAGGGCAATATCGTTT4850                         ACATCATGAACTCATTTCCAAAGCCCATTCTGGAAAATCTTTACAGTCGT4900                         GTGCAAAACATTGGGTTGATTGCCGAGAATGGTGCATACGTTAGTCTGAA4950                         CGGTGTATGGTACAACATTGTTGATCAAGTCGATTGGCGTAACGATGTAG5000                         CCAAAATTCTCGAGGACAAAGTGGAGAGATTACCTGGCTCGTACTACAAG5050                         ATAAATGAGTCCATGATCAAGTTCCACACTGAAAATGCGGAAGATCAAGA5100                         TCGTGTAGCTAGTGTTATCGGTGATGCCATCACACATATCAATACTGTTT5150                         TTGACCACAGAGGTATTCATGCCTACGTTTACAAAAACGTTGTTTCCGTA5200                         CAACAAGTGGGACTTTCCTTATCGGCAGCTCAATTTCTTTTCAGATTCTA5250                         TAATTCTGCTTCGGATCCACTGGATACGAGTTCCGGCCAAATCACAAATA5300                         TTCAGACACCATCTCAACAAAATCCTTCAGATCAAGAACAACAACCTCCA5350                         GCCTCTCCCACTGTGTCGATGAACCATATTGATTTCGCATGTGTCTCTGG5400                         TTCATCGTCTCCTGTGCTTGAACCATTGTTCAAATTGGTCAATGATGAAG5450                         CAAGTGAAGGGCAAGTAAAAGCCGGACACGCCATTGTTTATGGTGATGCT5500                         ACTTCTACTTATGCCAAAGAACATGTAAATGGGTTAAACGAACTTTTCAC5550                         GATCATTTCAAGAATCATTGAAGATTAAATTTTACCATTTTAAAATTTTA5600                         ATGTTCTTGGGTATGAACTTTTATTTTCAACTGCTTATTATATATCAATT5650                         CTATAAATTTTTTTCTTCTCTCTAACGACCAATTATAAAATTCATCCTCT5700                         TATTTATTACAGCATCTTATACATTATGTATATGGGTAGCTATTATTCAT5750                         TTTTGCTTCGTAAGGACTTTTTTTGTCAACTTTTTCATCCTAAGCGGCTA5800                         AAAGTGATTGGAGAGGAATGTCCAGGCGACCAATGATAAAAACGCTTTCT5850                         CTTGGAACAAGAAATAGGAGCAATTGACAGTTGTCGATGAACAGCGAAAA5900                         TAGTAAGATAACCTTCAAGCCCAATATTCTAATTAAAGGCGTTTATATAT5950                         TTGTACTTTATGGTATGTGCATATGTATTGT5981                                            (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:84:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH:50 base pairs                                                       (B) TYPE: Nucleotide                                                           (C) STRANDEDNESS: Doublestranded                                               (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Synthetic DNA                                              (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) ANTI-SENSE: No                                                            (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:84:                                       CGGGAAGACATAGAACTATGACTACGGATAACGCTAAGGCGCAACTGACC50                           (2) INFORMATION FOR SEQ ID NO:85:                                              (i) SEQUENCE CHARACTERISTICS:                                                  (A) LENGTH:48 basepairs                                                        (B) TYPE: Nucleotide                                                           (C) STRANDEDNESS: Doublestranded                                               (D) TOPOLOGY: Linear                                                           (ii) MOLECULE TYPE: Synthetic DNA                                              (iii) HYPOTHETICAL: No                                                         (iv) ANTI-SENSE: No                                                            (xi) SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION: SEQ ID NO:85:                                       GGGCCCAACAACACAATGGTTACCCCGAAATCGAGGGCGGGCAACAGG48                             __________________________________________________________________________ 

We claim:
 1. A plant transformed with at least one DNA comprising the coding sequence of a microbial gene for a component of trehalose synthase fused in correct reading frame to a plant promoter.
 2. The plant of claim 1 wherein the plant promoter is non-constitutive, so that full expression of the microbial gene is not realized until the plant is mature or encounters specific environmental conditions.
 3. The plant of claim 2 wherein the plant promoter is tissue specific.
 4. The plant of claim 2 wherein the plant promoter is light-induced.
 5. The plant of claim 2 wherein the plant promoter is stress-induced.
 6. The plant of any one of claims 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 wherein the transforming DNA is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, and 83 and DNA encoding polypeptide chains having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 29-38, and 44-49.
 7. The plant according to claim 6 wherein the gene is yeast gene TPS1 and the plant promoter is ATS1A.
 8. The plant of claim 5 wherein the plant promoter is LTI78 or RAB18.
 9. The plant according to claim 1 wherein the plant is more tolerant of stresses such as water-deprivation, heat or cold than is the untransformed plant.
 10. The plant of according to claim 9 which is monocotyledonous such as corn, oats, millet, wheat, rice, barley, sorghum, amaranth, onion, asparagus and sugar cane.
 11. The plant of any of claims 1 to 9 which is dicotyledonous such as alfalfa, soybean, petunia, cotton, sugarbeet, sunflower, carrot, celery, cabbage, cucumber, pepper, canola, tomato, potato, lentil, flax, broccoli, tobacco, bean, lettuce, oilseed rape, cauliflower, spinach, brussel sprout, artichoke, pea, okra, squash, kale, collard greens, tea and coffee.
 12. The production of trehalose from the plant according to claim
 1. 13. A seed produced by the plant of any of according to claim
 1. 14. A method of increasing the trehalose content of plants, comprising transforming a plant with at least one DNA encoding a component of trehalose synthase expressed under the control of a suitable promoter to produce a transgenic plant.
 15. The method according to claim 14 wherein the suitable promoter allows temporal or topological control over the expression.
 16. The method of claim 14 or 15 wherein said at least one DNA is selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOS: 1, 3, and 83 and DNA encoding polypeptide chains having the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NOS: 2, 4, 29-38 and 44-49.
 17. The method of claim 16 wherein the plants are co-transformed with the TPS1 gene under the control of a non-constitutive promoter ATS1A and one or both of the genes TSL1 and TSL2 are under the control of appropriate promoters.
 18. The method according to claim 14 wherein the coding sequence of at least one microbial gene encoding at least one component of trehalose synthase is fused to a plant promoter that causes expression specifically in storage organs.
 19. A method of producing trehalose, which comprises cultivating the transgenic plant of any of according to claim 14 under conditions that induce the synthesis of trehalose in the plant and then extracting the trehalose from the tissues of the plant.
 20. The method of claim 19 wherein the transgenic plant accumulates trehalose in a storage organ.
 21. The method of claim 20 wherein the transgenic plant is a root crop such as potato, sugarbeet and turnip.
 22. A method of protecting staple crops against drought, which comprises transforming a plant with the coding sequence of at least one microbial gene for at least one component of trehalose synthase fused appropriately to a plant promoter so that full expression of the microbial gene is not realized until the plant encounters conditions of drought.
 23. A method of protecting plants including those producing berries or fruits against frost damage to thermally sensitive tissues, which comprises transforming the plant with the coding sequence of at least one microbial gene for at least one component of trehalose synthase fused appropriately to a plant promoter so that full expression of the microbial gene is not obtained until the plant encounters conditions conducive to frost. 